,E    E    P    O    R    T 


♦  ON  'A 


PROPOSITION  TO  MODIFY 


THE 


f> 


PLAN  OF  INSTRUCTION 


IN    THE 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ALABAMA,  ^U^> 


// 


MADE    TO   THE 


^amltg  d  t|e  Eniijeoitg. 


Eead  before  the  Faculty,  Sept.  21,  and  before  the  Board  of  Trustees, 

'    Sept.  26,  1854. 


NEW  YOEK: 
D.   APPLETON   &   CO.,   346  and  348   BROADWAY. 

1855. 


'L^- 


^t^f^'^"^ 


I  f'p^tAT' 


Bakeb,  Godwin  &  Co.,  Peintees, 
No.  1  Spruce  St., 
New  York. 


PREFATORY. 


^•» 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Faculty  of  the  University  of  Alabama,  held  on 
Friday,  the  14th  day  of  July,  1854,  the  following  paper  was  read  by  the 
President : — 

Tlie  President  of  the  Board,  and  the  Trustees  now  present,  are  unanimously 
in  favor  of  modifying  the  present  system  of  instruction  in  the  University  of 
Alabama,  and  respectfully  request  the  Faculty  of  the  University  to  report  to  an 
adjourned  meeting  of  the  Board,  on  Monday,  the  25th  of  September  next,  the 
plan  and  details  for  the  initiation  and  continuance  of  a  system,  conforming,  as 
near  as  our  circumstances  will  allow,  to  the  arrangements  in  the  University  of 
Virginia. 

John  A.  Winston. 

Wm.  H.  Forney. 

John  K  M alone. 

Ed.  Baptist. 

H.  W.  Collier. 
University  of  Ala.,  July  12,  1854. 

This  paper  was  referred  to  a  committee  appointed  by  the  President, 
consisting  of  Professors  F.  A.  P.  Barnard,  John  W.  Pratt,  and  George 
Benagh  ;  which  committee  was  instructed  to  report  to  the  Faculty  at  an 
adjourned  meeting,  to  be  held  on  Monday,  the  18th  of  September.  On 
that  day  the  Faculty  accordingly  re-assembled ;  but  adjourned  without 
transacting  business,  in  consequence  of  the  absence  of  the  President. 
At  a  called  meeting,  on  Thursday,  the  21st,  the  committee  reported  in 
explicit  compliance  with  the  terms  of  the  request  of  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees ;  and  the  report  which  follows,  was  subsequently  presented  by  Pro- 
fessor Barnard,  on  behalf  of  himself  and  Professor  Pratt,  of  the  majority. 
It  was  ordered  by  the  Faculty,  at  a  subsequent  meeting,  that  this  docu- 
ment should  be  communicated  to  the  Board  of  Trustees.  The  report  was 
accordingly  read  before  that  body,  on  Tuesday  and  Wednesday,  the  26th 
and  27th  of  September.  The  deliberations  of  the  Board  resulted,  how- 
ever, in  the  adoption  neither  of  the  plan  originally  suggested  in  the 
paper  above  given,  nor  of  that  recommended  in  this  report ;  but  of  one 

85183 


4:  PREFATORY. 

whicli  may  perhaps  be  regarded  as  an  experiment  substantially  new ;  con- 
servative, in  the  main,  of  the  features  of  the  existing  college  system,  but 
providing  opportunity  for  such  departures  from  it,  in  particular  cases,  as 
the  judgment  of  the  Faculty  shall  approve.  The  nature  of  this  plan 
may  be  more  particularly  gathered  from  the  following  ordinance : — 

1.  That  the  studies  now  pursued  in  the  University,  the  extent  to  which  they 
are  carried,  and  the  number  of  recitations  heard  by  each  ofl&cer,  shall  remain  as 
at  present  established,  as  near  as  may  be. 

2.  That  twelve  recitations  shall  be  heard  upon  each  day  of  the  week,  except 
Sunday.  The  Faculty  may,  in  their  discretion,  reduce  the  nimaber  of  recitations 
upon  Saturday,  so  that  there  be  not  less  than  four  upon  that  day. 

3.  That  the  recitations  of  each  day  shall  be  assigned  by  the  Faculty  to  the 
different  hours  in  such  a  manner  that  a  student,  by  taking  three  recitations  per 
day,  may  accomplish  all  the  studies  taught  in  the  University  in  four  years.  In 
doing  this,  the  recitations  of  the  Professor  of  Ancient  Languages,  the  Tutor  of 
Ancient  Languages,  and  the  Professor  of  Modern  Languages,  may  be  assigned  to 
the  same  hours;  so,  also,  those  of  the  Professors  of  Mixed  Mathematics  and  Pure 
Mathematics ;  also,  those  of  the  Professors  of  Chemistry  and  Geology.  All  other 
recitations  must  be  assigned  to  hours  at  which  no  others  are  held. 

4.  Each  student  under  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  desiring  to  select  a  par- 
ticular study,  shall  be  required  to  produce  from  his  parent  or  guardian,  if  he 
has  one,  a  written  declaration  of  the  special  object  of  the  applicant  in  coming  to 
the  University ;  and  the  Faculty  shall  then  prescribe  for  him  the  course  of  study 
which  will  accomplish  his  object  in  the  shortest  time  and  in  the  best  manner, 
having  regard  to  the  next  two  provisions. 

5.  Every  student  must  have  three  recitations  a  day,  as  near  as  may  be. 

6.  A  student  shall  not  enter  upon  the  study  he  may  select,  until  he  has  passed 
such  an  examination  as  will  satisfy  the  Faculty  that  he  may,  by  proper  applica- 
tion, prosecute  it  successfully. 

V.  Upon  a  student's  completing,  and  standing  an  approved  examination  upon, 
all  the  studies  in  any  department,  he  shaU  receive  the  degree  of  graduate  in  that 
department,  and  a  certificate  bearing  the  seal  of  the  University,  and  delivered  at 
commencement,  in  the  usual  mode. 

8.  The  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  shall  be  conferred  upon  a  student  only 
after  he  shall  have  passed  approved  examinations  upon  all  the  studies  taught  in 
the  University. 

9.  Honorary  degrees  shall  not  be  conferred  by  this  University,  except  by  a 
unanimous  vote  of  the  Board  of  Trustees. 

10.  All  laws  or  ordinances,  or  parts  of  the  same,  now  existing,  which  conflict 
with  the  foregoing  ordinance,  are  hereby  repealed. 


REPORT. 


-♦♦♦- 


The  undersigned,  a  majority  of  the  Committee  ap- 
pointed by  tlie  Faculty  of  the  University  of  Alabama, 
to  consider  and  report  on  a  request  emanating  from 
certain  members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  in  regard  to 
a  re- organization  of  the  i^lan  of  instruction  in  the  Uni- 
versity, having  consented  to  unite  with  the  minority  in 
a  literal  compliance  with  the  request  alluded  to,  and 
having  discharged  that  duty,  beg  leave  respectfully  to 
present  certain  distinct  views  of  their  own,  having  a 
bearing  on  the  general  question  raised  by  the  proposi- 
tion referred  to  them,  and  also  on  the  considerations  out 
of  which,  as  they  have  reason  to  believe,  this  proposition 
has  grown. 

Change,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say,  will  never  be 
sought  for  its  own  sake.  Whenever  and  wherever  there 
arises  a  steady  and  earnest  demand  for  a  new  order  of 
things  in  regard  to  matters  which  deeply  concern  man- 
kind, whether  they  be  affairs  of  state  or  systems  of 
education,  it  is  obvious,  from  the  very  nature  of  the 
interests  involved,  that  the  degree  to  which  this  demand 
is  real  and  sincere,  must  be  matter  of  easy  ascertain- 


6  REPORT. 

ment.  And  wlien,  to  a  majority  of  the  community,  the 
existence  of  a  general  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  with  the 
actual  state  of  things  is  entirely  unsuspected  and  imper- 
ceptible, it  may  well  be  questioned  whether  the  impres- 
sions of  a  few,  however  decided,  can  be  wisely  accepted 
as  of  more  weight  in  evidence  than  the  tranquil  content- 
ment of  nearly  all  beside. 

It  is  by  no  means  the  belief  of  the  undersigned,  that 
those  members  of  the  Board  whose  names  are  appended 
to  the  request,  which  has  led  to  the  appointment  of  this 
Committee,  are  all  of  them,  by  previous  conviction,  in 
favor  of  the  introduction  into  this  University  of  the 
system  of  which  they  ask  for  the  details.  It  is  quite 
sufficient  to  suppose  that  the  request  was  dictated  by  a 
desire,  on  the  one  hand,  to  know  explicitly  and  defi- 
nitely what  it  is  which  it  is  proposed  to  substitute  here, 
in  place  of  a  system  that,  if  not  the  best,  has,  neverthe- 
less, the  sanction  of  some  centuries  of  experiment,  and 
the  present  support  of  the  general  sufirage;  and  an 
equal  desire,  on  the  other,  to  satisfy  the  outside  advo- 
cates of  change,  that  the  Board  are  always  willing  to 
examine  any  project  for  the  improvement  of  the  Uni- 
versity, which,  in  the  view  of  any  friend  of  the  cause 
of  education,  may  deserve  their  deliberate  attention. 
Those  members  of  the  Board  to  whom  this  inquiry  is 
owing,  are  therefore  regarded  by  the  undersigned  as 
occupying,  equally  with  their  colleagues,  the  attitude  of 
judges,  whose  opinions  are  yet  to  be  expressed,  and  not 
that  of  partizans,  who  are  waiting  only  to  act  upon  a 
judgment  already  formed. 


K  E  P  O  R  T  . 


The  friends  of  tlie  University,  whose  suggestions  to 
the  members  of  the  Board  have  probably  occasioned 
the  present  inquiry,  appear  to  have  been  laboring  under 
some  impressions  which  a  candid  examination  of  facts 
cannot  fail  to  dispel.     These  are — 

1st.  That  the  actual  state  of  the  University  is  not 
prosperous ; 

2d.  That  the  number  of  students  is  smaller  than  is 
usual  in  colleges  of  equal  standing  in  years ; 

3d.  That  there  really  exists  an  outside  demand  for 
a  radical  re-organization  of  the  University,  powerful 
enough,  if  resisted,  to  sweep  down  opposition  before 
it; 

4th.  That  neither  the  Trustees  nor  the  Faculty 
have  heretofore  given  thought  to  the  possibility  of 
introducing  improvement  into  the  institution ;  but  that 
both  bodies  have  manifested  indifference  to  the  spirit  of 
progress  which  characterizes  the  age. 

In  speaking  of  the  prosperity  of  an  institution  of 
learning,  the  general  public  seem  to  regard  but  a  single 
criterion — that  of  the  number  of  students  it  attracts,  or 
succeeds  in  retaining.  But  this  is  a  test  which  serves 
very  ill  to  enable  us  to  judge  either  of  the  value  of  the 
institution  as  a  part  of  the  educational  machinery  of  the 
State,  or  of  the  esteem  in  which  it  is  held  by  the  sur- 
rounding people.  It  is  perfectly  well  known  to  the 
undersigned,  that  many  who  would  be  students  of  the 
University  are  prevented  from  being  so  now,  not 
because  of  any  objection  to  the  course  of  study  here 


8  E  E  P  O  E  T. 

j)rescribed,  but  because  of  what  they  please  to  consider 
the  too  great  severity  of  the  tests  imposed  to  secure  a 
certain  respectable  degree  of  scholarship  and  attain- 
ment. Could  the  Faculty  be  induced  to  think  it  wise 
to  permit  a  material  degradation  of  the  standard  of 
scholarship  insisted  on  in  this  University,  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that,  without  any  other  change  whatever,  an 
immediate  and  large  increase  of  numbers  might  be 
realized.  It  is  often  charged  that  this  Faculty  is  more 
severe  in  its  exactions  than  that  of  any  other  college  in 
the  Southwestern  States.  Upon  such  an  assertion  it  is 
not  for  the  undersigned  to  express  any  opinion.  The 
Faculty  of  the  University  of  Alabama  have  acted  with- 
out reference  to  what  may  or  may  not  be  demanded 
elsewhere.  They  have  aimed  but  at  the  single  object 
of  making  this  institution  one  in  which  scholars  may  be 
formed  worthy  to  be  compared  with  those  who  issue 
from  the  celebrated  and  time-honored  Universities  of 
the  older  States.  "Whether  in  this  they  have  succeeded 
or  not,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  since  it  is  matter  of 
pretty  frequent  complaint,  that  they  have  set  up  here 
what  is  generally  regarded  as  a  high  standard  of  schol- 
arship. They  have  secured  to  the  University  of 
Alabama  the  respect  of  the  surrounding  community, 
and  that  of  sister  institutions  throughout  the  country. 
To  say  that,  in  regard  to  the  great  ultimate  ends  for 
which  colleges  are  instituted,  there  has  been  any  failure 
here,  or  that  there  exists  a  want  of  a  prosperity  of  the 
noblest  kind,  is  at  once  unreasonable  and  absurd. 


K  E  P  O  K  T  . 


But  in  regard  to  tlie  point  of  numbers.  There  is 
not,  we  must  admit,  a  large  number  of  students  in  this 
University,  if  we  compare  catalogues  with  Harvard  or 
Yale,  or  even  with  the  State  institutions  of  North  and 
South  Carolina.  But  Harvard  and  Yale  have  several 
thousand  living  alumni;  and  the  two  last-mentioned 
colleges  have  several  hundred — perhaps  not  less  than  a 
thousand — each.  All  of  these  old  institutions  are,  or 
have  been,  the  direct  beneficiaries  of  the  States  to 
which  they  belong,  or  of  many  of  their  wealthy 
citizens ;  and  they  thus  secure  that  interest  and  those 
sympathies  from  the  surrounding  communities,  which 
all  men  bestow  upon  the  objects  they  have  befriended 
and  cherished.  The  adult  population  of  Alabama  is 
yet  mainly  immigrant ;  the  affections  of  the  fathers  of 
our  youth  still  cling  around  the  homes  of  their  child- 
hood, and  their  spirits  still  do  homage  at  those  shrines 
of  learning,  where  they  themselves,  perhaps,  were  first 
imbued  with  the  love  of  letters.  In  addition  to  this, 
there  are  growing  up  in  this  State,  as  in  every  other, 
institutions  endowed  and  patronized  by  particular 
religious  denominations ;  which  cannot  fail,  even  though 
they  should  ofter  advantages  for  mere  intellectual  cul- 
ture much  inferior  to  those  which  the  University  pre- 
sents, to  draw  around  them  many  who  would  otherwise 
swell  our  numbers.  Nor  has  this  institution  yet  a  hold 
on  the  feeling  of  State  pride,  such  as  so  powerfully 
sustains  the  State  Universities  of  the  two  Carolinas  and 
of  Virginia.     The  jDopulation  itself  is  too  heterogeneous, 


10  K  E  P  O  K  T  . 

and  too  newly  thrown  together,  to  have  learned  even 
to  recognize  the  feeling ;  and  this  feeling,  so  far  as  it  is 
represented  at  all,  is  at  present  hut  humbly  represented 
by  a  sort  of  sentiment  of  common  interest.  All  these 
considerations  are  unfavorable  to  the  growth  of  an  insti- 
tution erected  in  the  midst  of  a  peojDle  like  this,  by 
funds  not  contributed  by  themselves,  interesting  them 
by  no  associations  connected  with  the  past,  and  allying 
itself  with  no  sympathies  of  theirs  which  may  be  linked 
with  the  present,  or  may  extend  to  the  future. 

Under  circumstances  like  these,  ought  it  not  to  be 
a  great  thing,  if  the  University  is  able  to  command 
from  Alabama  an  attendance  as  large,  in  proportion  to 
population,  as  the  University  of  Virginia  commands 
from  the  people  of  Virginia?  The  name  of  the  Sage 
of-  Monticello  ought  itself  alone  to  be  a  sufficient 
guaranty  for  a  host  of  youthful  devotees  at  the  altar 
which  he  reared  to  learning.  The  tone  of  exultant 
pride,  in  which  every  Virginian  alludes  to  this  endur- 
ing monument  of  the  wisdom  of  Jefferson,  would  seem 
to  indicate  that  no  other  institution  could  have  a 
charm  like  this,  to  fill  the  imagination  of  a  native  of 
the  Old  Dominion.  And,  to  leave  speculation  aside, 
it  is  in  fact  universally  admitted,  that  the  University 
of  Virginia  is  a  flourishing  and  prosperous  institution. 
Now,  in  comparing  that  University  with  ours,  in  regard 
to  numbers,  we  must  manifestly  reject  from  both  cata- 
logues all  students  from  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
respective  States.     We  must  remember  how  many  of 


REPORT.  11 

the  sons  of  Virginia  have  emigrated  South  and  West ; 
we  must  remember  what  attractive  associations  cluster 
around  the  name  of  the  patriot  founder ;  we  must  bear 
in  mind  how  easily,  by  means  of  the  immense  railway 
system  of  the  Atlantic  States,  students  even  from  our 
own  borders  may  reach  the  Virginia  University,  more 
quickly  and  more  agreeably  than  they  can  our  own. 
Of  this  species  of  advantages  we  have  not  one.  Hence 
we  confine  the  comparison  strictly  to  the  numbers  fur- 
nished by  the  respective  States  in  which  the  Universi- 
ties are  situated,  alone. 

The  catalogue  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  last 
published  (for  1853-54),  shows  a  total,  of  students 
belonging  to  Virginia,  of  289.  But,  as  a  considerable 
number  of  these  are  students  of  law  and  medicine, 
they  certainly,  in  a  comparison  like  this,  are  not  to  be 
counted.  By  a  careful  enumeration,  it  appears  that 
the  number  of  these  professional  students  belonging  to 
Virginia  is  126.  The  students  in  the  Department  of 
Arts  are  therefore  only  163.  According  to  the  United 
States  Census  for  1850,  the  total  white  population  of 
Virginia  was,  in  that  year,  894,800.  The  same  authority 
gives  the  total  white  population  of  Alabama,  at  the 
same  time,  as  426,514.  According  to  these  figures,  if 
the  University  of  Virginia  is  prosperous  while  the 
State  furnishes  it  one  liimdred  and  sixty-three  students 
of  Arts,  ours  ought  to  be  equally  so,  so  long  as  we 
have  as  many  as  seventy-seven.  But  the  catalogue  of 
the  University  of  Alabama,  published  last  J^ovember, 


12  K  E  P  O  E  T  . 

contains  tlie  names  of  ninety-eiglit  students  of  Arts 
from  Alabama ;  and,  if  we  add  those  wlio  were  admitted 
after  the  jDublication  of  the  catalogue,  w^e  shall  have 
one  Imndred  and  seven.  Is  there  any  ground,  then,  for 
asserting  that  our  numl3ers  are  feeble;  or  that  Ala- 
bama does  not  patronize  her  own  University  as  well  as 
other  States  do  theirs  ?  Should  the  assertion  be  still 
adhered  to,  it  can  be  established  only  by  comparison 
with  some  State  institution  in  which  the  close,  instead 
of  the  open,  system  of  instruction  is  maintained ;  and 
hence  the  whole  inference,  w^hich  it  has  been  sought  to 
derive  from  this  fact,  will  fall  to  the  ground. 

In  truth,  the  comparison  just  made  is  most  disas- 
trous to  the  claims  of  the  Virginia  system,  as  it  respects 
its  actual  popularity.  For,  be  it  observed,  a  main 
reason  why  we  are  urged  to  adopt  that  system  is,  that 
the  existing  one  is  so  hopelessly  unpopular  as  to  render 
some  destructive  outbreak  in  the  legislature,  or  among 
the  people,  all  but  absolutely  inevitable.  Yet,  unpop- 
ular as  it  is  (if  these  assumptions  are  true),  it  is  mani- 
festly, as  the  figures  themselves  show,  nearly  fifty  per 
cent,  more  popular  in  Alabama,  than  the  system  of  the 
Virginia  University  is  in  Virginia. 

Upon  the  question  of  success  as  tested  by  numbers? 
these  remarks  may,  perhaps,  be  esteemed  sufficient. 
Yet  there  are  one  or  tw^o  passages  relating  to  this 
point,  in  the  report  made  to  the  Board  of  Trustees 
of  this  University  at  their  session  in  July,  1852,  by  the 
President  of  the  University,  so  forcible  and  conclusive, 


E  E  P  O  K  T  .  13 

that,  as  they  are  brief,  the  undersigned  cannot  refrain 
from  here  reproducing  them. 

"Numbers,"  says  Dr.  Manly,  "in  an  institution 
depend  upon  its  age  and  history,  its  position,  the  charac- 
ter and  personal  influence  of  its  officers — especially  of 
its  graduates — the  circumstances  and  character  of  the 
communities  surrounding  it,  and  upon  facts  and  rela- 
tionships so  various  that  iJie  question  of  organization  is 
left  comparatively  a  very  small  influenced    And  again : 

"  In  the  earlier  periods  of  its  history,  numbers  have 
not  constituted  a  conspicuous  feature  in  any  college. 
The  first  half-century,  even,  of  the  oldest  and  most 
popular  of  them,  would  not  present  an  average  of  num- 
bers disparaging  to  our  own,  in  the  short  period  reck- 
oned by  the  University  of  Alabama.  In  Harvard, 
from  1806  to  1810  inclusive,  a  period  of  %.Ye  years  not 
unfavorable  for  the  comparison,  and  when  the  college 
was  170  years  old,  the  average  number  of  undergrad- 
uates was  211."     Once  more: — 

"  Compared  with  other  colleges,  however,  this  Uni- 
versity has  its  fair  average.  Of  121  colleges  in  the 
United  States,  reported  in  the  American  Almanac  of 
1850,  78  have  fewer  than  were  our  numbers  of  that 
year,  and  only  38  had  more.  *  t  *  In  a  document 
presented  to  the  Board  of  Education  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  1851,  of  53  colleges  (comprising  the  older,  the 
endowed  and  popular  institutions  in  the  United  States), 
26  had  more  and  26  had  fewer  than  our  numbers  of 
that  year." 


14  E  E  P  O  E  T  . 

To  these  extracts  may  be  added  tlie  following,  from 
a  letter  addressed,  by  the  Faculty  of  this  University, 
to  Hon.  W.  K.  Baylor,  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Education  of  the  Senate  of  Alabama,  in  January,  1843: 
"No  college  in  the  United  States,"  say  the  Faculty, 
"  ever  yet  went  into  operation,  which,  in  the  years  of  its 
infancy,  was  not  as  limited  in  this  respect  as  the  Uni- 
versity of  Alabama.  Many  have  been  much  more  so. 
For  fifty  years  from  its  foundation,  the  University  of 
Harvard  graduated,  annually,  on  an  average,  fewer 
than  seven  individuals.  ,For  twenty  years  the  average 
number  of  graduates  at  Yale  college  was  about  five, 
A  young  college,  in  a  newly  settled  country,  will 
never,  in  its  infancy,  be  numerously  attended.  The 
demand  for  a  high  order  of  education  among  the  peo- 
ple .is  neither  great  nor  general.  ^'  ^  ^'  If  such  a 
college  prepare,  every  year,  but  a  few  men  to  instruct 
others,  the  immediate  fruit  of  its  operations  may  seem 
indeed  to  be  small ;  but  through  those  same  men  it  is 
still  to  operate  through  a  long  series  of  years,  and  to' 
carry  the  benefits  of  knowledge  to  hundreds  and  thou- 
sands. ^  ^  "^  How  are  the  peojDle  ever  to  be  made 
ripe  for  learned  institutions,  but  by  first  preparing  the 
teachers  who  are  to .  diffuse  among  them  the  elements 
of  knowledge  ?  The  streams  which  flow  into  the  ocean 
are  fed  by  the  evaporation  of  the  ocean  itself  And 
the  students  who  throng  the  halls  of  colleges,  are 
brought  there  by  the  learning  which,  silently  as  the 
vapor  rises  from  the  sea,  these  colleges  have  scattered 


R  E  P  O  K  T  .  15 

throueli  the  land."  And  further:  "Great  numbers 
constitute,  in  general,  the  most  trifling  and  shadowy  and 
insiofnificant  evidence  of  excellence  in  a  school,  which 
can  be  adduced.  And  if  a  seminary  is  young,  and  is 
situated  in  a  new  country,  and  nominally  exacts  some 
slight  intellectual  training  as  a  condition  of  member- 
ship, great  numbers,  suddenly  collected,  furnish  a  very 
ominous  indication  as  to  the  fidelity  of  its  adminis- 
tration." 

But  it  has  been  affirmed,  and  it  is  so  still,  with 
great  positiveness  and  emphasis,  that  there  exists  exten- 
sively, among  the  people  of  Alabama,  a  feeling  of  dis- 
satisfaction with  the  plan  of  instruction  pursued  in  this 
University,  and  a  disposition  to  originate  measures 
which  shall  result  in  forcing,  should  not  the  Board  con- 
ciliate it  by  yielding,  a  change. 

That  there  may  exist  a  general  and  somewhat  vague 
desire  for  the  introduction  of  some  improvements  upon 
the  present  system,  the  undersigned  are  not  disposed  to 
deny.  They  are  the  less  so,  because  of  the  fact,  well 
known  to  them,  that  a  similar  feeling  has  long  existed 
among  the  members,  both  of  the  Board  and  of  the  Fac- 
ulty themselves.  It  has  been  felt  that  the  present 
course  of  study  is  too  greatly  burthened ;  and  that  the 
University  of  Alabama,  in  common  with  most  or  all  of 
the  colleges  of  the  country,  has  gone  on  increasing  the 
amount  of  its  exactions  from  its  students,  until  of  the 
two  e^dls — superficial  teaching  on  the  one  hand,  and 
overtasking  the   strength   on   the   other — one  or  the 


16  REPORT. 


otlier  seems  almost  unavoidable,  and  both  are  not 
nnfrequently  more  or  less  experienced.  That  some 
improvement  onglit  to  be  made  here,  the  undersigned 
will  not  undertake  to  dispute.  Of  what  precise  nature 
or  form  the  change  ought  to  be,  they  propose  to  con- 
sider in  the  proper  place.  Every  college  which  pro- 
poses to  carry  its  students  through  a  definite  course  in 
each  distinct  department — the  University  of  Virginia 
as  well  as  the  University  of  Alabama — must  be  yet 
compelled,  by  force  of  circumstances,  to  look  into  and 
to  correct  the  evil  which  here  undoubtedly  exists.  The 
best  manner  of  attempting  to  do  this,  has  been  subject 
of  discussion  between  one  or  both  of  the  undersigned 
and  members  of  the  Board  ^  of  Trustees,  at  various 
times,  for  years ;  and  plans  have  been  actually  drawn 
up  by  them  and  committed  to  paper.  The  difficulty 
and  delicacy  of  the  undertaking,  and  a  natural  unwil- 
lingness to  press  views  which,  while  generally  ap- 
proved, might  have  failed  to  carry  conviction  in  all 
their  details,  has  hitherto  prevented  these  discussions 
from  leading  to  any  important  practical  result. 

But  while  the  undersigned  fully  recognize  the  exist- 
ence of  a  general  desire  for  the  improvement  of  the 
system  of  instruction  which  actually  exists  in  this  Uni- 
versity, as  having  long  partaken  of  that  desire  them- 
selves, they  by  no  means  admit  that  there  has  yet 
appeared  any  evidence  of  a  wish  or  design,  on  the  part 
of  the  people,  to  subvert  the  system  itself,  and  to  erect 
upon  its  ruins,  a  fabric  of  so  loose  construction,  and  so 


R  E  P  O  K  T  .  17 

doubtful  a  character,  as  tliat  of  the  University  of 
Virginia.  If  any  such  disposition  has  appeared  in  any 
quarter,  it  is  believed  not  to  have  been  indicative  of 
any  general  dissatisfaction,  nor  to  have  originated  with 
the  people  themselves.  The  undersigned  entertain 
great  confidence  in  the  conviction  which  they  here 
express ;  and  that  for  several  reasons  entirely  satisfac- 
tory to  them.  In  the  first  place,  they,  like  other 
citizens,  mingle  more  or  less  with  the  people,  and  they 
do  not  entirely  neglect  to  correspond  with  intelligent 
gentlemen  at  a  distance  from  Tuscaloosa.  While  they 
confess  that  there  have  come  to  them,  from  time  to 
time,  through  such  channels,  complaints  of  one  descrip- 
tion or  another,  in  regard  to  the  University, — com- 
plaints even  of  those  evils  connected  w^ith  the  course  of 
instruction,  which  the  undersigned  have  just  signalized,- — 
they  are  free  to  say  that,  until  since  this  subject  was 
referred  to  the  Faculty  by  the  members  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees  assembled  here  at  the  late  Annual  Com- 
mencement, they  never  received,  from  any  source  of 
information  whatever  accessible  to  them,  the  slightest 
hint  of  the  propriety  of  any  sweeping  change,  or  the 
most  doubtful  suggestion  of  the  expediency  of  intro- 
ducing  here,  the  system  of  the  University  of  Virginia. 
This,  it  is  true,  is  merely  negative  evidence ;  but  in  a 
question  of  great  public  interest,  like  the  present, 
negative  evidence  has  weight.  That  which  agitates  a 
whole  people,  cannot  but  be  in  the  mouths  of  indi- 


18  K  E  P  O  E  T  . 

viduals ;  and  that  of  which  men  talk,  those  who  mingle 
with  men  must  hear. 

That  there  can  be  no  popular  demand  for  the 
introduction  of  the  Virginia  system  here,  is  further 
evident  from  the  fact,  that  not  one  in  twenty  of  the 
people  knows  what  the  Virginia  system  is.  It  certainly 
is  not  what  it  is  apparently  believed  by  some  to  be  ; 
and  that  is,  a  system  which  permits  any  student  to 
pursue  any  study  selected  by  himself  or  his  guardians, 
at  any  time,  to  any  extent,  and  with  any  rapidity  he 
pleases.  And  the  prevalent  misapprehension  on  this 
subject,  amounts  really  to  a  serious  evil;  since  the 
expectations  which  have  been  held  out  regarding  the 
plan  are  sure,  should  it  be  adopted  here,  to  be  sadly 
disappointed.  But  on  this  point  the  undersigned  pro- 
pose to  speak  more  fully  in  its  proper  place. 

The  absence  of  any  popular  demand  for  this  species 
of  change  is  still  further  evidenced  by  the  tone  of  the 
public  press,  both  before  and  after  the  request  of  the 
members  of  the  Board,  who  were  present  in  July,  was 
laid  before  the  public.  Nothing  can  be  more  certain 
than  that,  throughout  the  collegiate  year  of  1853-54, 
down  to  the  month  of  May,  when  some  slight  troubles 
entirely  connected  with  discipline  elicited  some  discon- 
tented remarks,  not  one  word  appeared  in  any  public 
print  in  Alabama,  in  relation  to  the  University  (and 
the  notices  were  many),  which  was  not  congratulatory 
and  almost  exultant,  in  view  of  the  steady  improve- 


( 


K  E  P  O  E  T  . 


VOc  19 


ment  of  tlie  Institution  in  prosperity,  and  in  view  of  its 
well-establislied  reputation  for  tliorough  and  judicious 
methods  of  instruction,  and  for  tlie  sound  and  substan- 
tial attainments  of  its  students.  And  in  the  expressions 
of  discontent  just  alluded  to,  and  which  were  directed 
entirely  toward  police  and  other  regulations  and  meas- 
ures for  the  government  and  not  for  the  instruction  of 
the  under-graduates,  it  is  worthy  of  remark  how  gener- 
ally, and  in  fact  how  almost  universally,  the  conductors 
of  the  press  mingled  with  their  words  of  dissatisfac- 
tion the  regret  that  these  events  should  have  befallen 
at  a  moment  when  the  University,  having  lived  down 
its  disasters,  had  become  so  proudly  prosjDerous,  and  had 
succeeded  in  raising  itself  so  deservedly  high  in  the 
confidence  of  the  people  of  Alabama.  Whoever  has 
had  access  to  the  public  prints  of  the  State  generally 
for  the  past  twelve  months  cannot  but  be  forcibly 
struck  with  the  truth  of  these  reminiscences.  The 
undersigned  therefore  assert,  without  fear  of  contra- 
diction, that,  if  the  tone  of  the  public  press  can  be 
regarded  as  in  any  degree  an  index  of  that  of  public 
sentiment  among  a  people,  then  it  is  so  far  from  being 
true,  that  there  is  a  popular  demand  for  the  subversion 
here  of  our  time-honored  course  of  instruction  for  the 
sake  of  introducing  one  not  even  known  to  a  majority 
of  the  people,  that  the  feeling  of  the  masses  has  been 
entirely  the  other  way, — entirely  one  of  satisfaction  and 
content. 

If,  further  to  test  this   question,  we  compare   the 


20  K  E  P  O  E  T  . 

expressions  of  opinion  put  fortli  by  the  same  organs, 
explicitly  upon  tlie  proposition  brought  before  them  in 
the  published  request  of  members  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  to  the  Faculty,  which  has  occasioned  this 
inquiry,  we  shall  find  that  nearly  every  press,  in  which 
the  subject  has  been  elaborately  treated,  has  been 
decided  in  disapprobation  of  the  change.  Some  of  the 
reasonings  on  the  subject,  which  the  proposition  has 
elicited,  have  proceeded  from  alumni  of  the  University; 
and  the  undersigned  hazard  nothing  in  saying  that  they 
have  manifested  an  ability  which  would  do  honor  to 
graduates  of  any  college  in  the  Union. 

Upon  the  question  whether  the  Trustees  or  the 
Faculty  have  ever  been  indifferent  to  improvement,  or 
averse  to  it,  some  remarks  have  already  been  inciden- 
tally made.  More  specifically  it  may  here  be  stated, 
that,  in  order  to  meet  an  alleged  necessity  or  demand, 
the  Trustees,  with  the  cordial  assent  of  the  Faculty,  in 
the  year  1844,  established  a  special  school  for  the 
instruction  of  such  young  men  as  might  desire  to 
become  teachers  without  completing  the  entire  colle- 
giate course.  A  plan  of  instruction  was  devised  for 
this  school,  which  was  designed  to  extend,  in  whole, 
over  three  years ;  and  the  Faculty  were  authorized  at 
their  discretion  to  issue  to  the  students,  at  their  depar- 
ture, certificates  of  proficiency.  Extensive  publication 
was  made  of  this  arrangement,  in  the  catalogues  and 
circulars  of  the  University  and  in  the  public  prints ; 
hut  not  one  student  ever  volunteered  to  avail  himself  of 


E  E  P  O  K  T  .  21 

its  henefits.  In  tlie  year  1846,  tlie  Trustees  created  a 
Department  of  Law,  and  elected  a  Professor.  It  was 
tliouglit  that  a  professional  school  in  this  department 
might  be  successful  in  Tuscaloosa,  and  that  its  success 
might  exert  a  reflex  influence  favorable  to  the  pros- 
perity of  the  Faculty  of  Arts.  But  no  sufficient 
number  of  students  ever  presented  themselves  to 
induce  the  Professor  to  commence  his  course,  and  by 
degrees  the  school  of  Law  (which  the  undersigned 
believe  was  never  abolished)  passed  out  of  recollec- 
tion. 

The  report  of  Dr.  Manly,  from  which  some  brief 
extracts  have  already  been  given,  is  another  evidence 
of  the  solicitude  which  the  Board  of  Trustees  have 
always  manifested  for  the  improvement  of  the  Univer- 
sity, and  for  the  extension  of  "the  benefits  of  the 
Institution  to  a  greater  number  of  the  citizens  of  the 
State."  In  compliance  with  the  request  of  that  body, 
the  President  of  the  University,  in  company  with 
another  officer,  made,  during  the  summer  of  1851,  an 
extensive  journey  through  various  States,  attending  in 
the  meantime  the  National  Educational  Convention  at 
Cleveland,  and  gathering,  wherever  he  went,  the  results 
of  a  great  variety  of  experiments  carefully  made  under 
the  eyes  of  experienced  educators.  All  this  he  embod- 
ied in  a  report  read  to  the  Board  of  Trustees  only  two 
years  ago,  and  printed  by  their  order.  It  is  absurd  to 
suppose  that  such  an  amount  of  pains  was  taken  for 
nothing ;  or  without  a  sincere  purpose  to  profit  by  the 


22  REPORT. 

experience  of  others,  and  to  introduce  liere  any  changes, 
whatever  they  might  be,  which  should  seem  to  hold  out 
a  promise  of  increasing  the  usefulness  of  this  University. 
Yet  so  little  encouragement  did  the  carefully  arranged 
statistics  of  that  report  hold  out  to  the  spirit  of  inno- 
vation, that,  after  the  reading  of  it,  not  one  single  voice 
was  lifted  in  behalf  of  any  departure  whatever  from  the 
existing  system.  It  has  not  been  without  considerable 
surprise  that  the  undersigned  have  witnessed  the  inex- 
plicable fact,  that,  after  a  lapse  of  only  two  years  from 
the  presentation  of  that  report,  the  same  Board  who 
listened  to  it  and  ordered  it  to  be  printed,  have  seri- 
ously entertained  a  proposition,  which  the  statistics 
contained  in  that  document  demonstrate  to  be  ruinous 
in  its  tendencies  to  the  last  degree. 

Since  the  purpose  of  Dr.  Manly  in  his  report  was 
simply  to  state  facts  with  their  natural  inferences,  and 
not  to  dictate  measures  to  the  Board  of  Trustees,  it  may 
possibly  be  objected,  that  those  who  take  the  view  of 
its  bearing  here  expressed  fail  to  understand  his  state- 
ments, or  reason  perversely  from  his  figures.  Such  an 
objection  will  hardly  be  thought  to  lie  against  the 
inferences  of  gentlemen  who  peruse  the  pamphlet  at  a 
distance,  and  whose  habits  of  mind  and  whose  acquaint- 
ance with  colleges  may  be  presumed  to  fit  them  pecu- 
liarly to  form  a  correct  judgment.  Bishop  Potter,  ot 
Pennsylvania,  in  a  document  (printed,  but  not  pub- 
lished) relating  to  the  University  of  that  State,  which 
he  has  kindly  communicated  to  the  undersigned,  after 


REPORT.  23 

speaking  of  Dr.  Manly 's  report  as  "the  fruit  of  mucli 
laborious  and  careful  research,"  and  as  "  a  most  valuable 
contribution  to  the  cause  of  a  higher  education,"  charac- 
terizes it  a's  an  "able  and  most  conservative  report." 
E.  C.  Herrick,  Esq.,  A.  M.,  Librarian  and  Treasurer  of 
Yale  College,  remarks  incidentally  (in  a  private  letter), 
of  the  question  now  pending,  "  I  cannot  but  think  that 
Dr.  Manly's  report  would  be  a  very  satisfactory  refuta- 
tion of  the  proposed  plan."  And  still  more  emphat- 
ically observes  Dr.  Swain,  of  North  Carolina,  in  the 
conclusion  of  a  most  valuable  letter  on  the  general 
question,  "  I  read  his  [Dr.  Manly's]  pamphlet  two  years 
ago  with  pleasure  and  profit ;  and  took  it  for  granted 
that  his  argument  and  authority  would  be  considered 
conclusive  by  the  managers  of  your  institution.  Instead 
of  indulging  in  these  hasty  expressions  of  opinion,  I 
might  well  have  contented  myself  with  a  simple  in- 
dorsement of  his  well-considered  views." 

But,  notwithstanding  all  this,  the  whole  question  is 
opened  up  again,  and  the  undersigned  are  absolutely 
constrained,  against  their  will,  to  go  back  to  first  prin- 
ciples, and  to  retrace  all  the  steps  of  a  discussion  which 
they  had  hoped,  during  their  day,  never  to  see  revived 
in  this  institution. 

Let  it  be  understood  in  the  outset,  that  it  is  in  no 
spirit  of  unfriendliness  or  opposition  to  institutions  for 
professional,  technical,  special,  or  partial  education,  that 
the  undersigned  are  disposed  to  remonstrate  against  the 
transformation  to  which  it  is  proposed  to  subject  this 


24:  E  E  P  O  R  T  . 

University.  If  there  is  a  demand  for  sucli  institutions, 
let  them  be  created ;  if  it  is  true,  as  is  so  frequently- 
asserted,  that  hundreds  of  young  men  are  absolutely  cut 
off  from  any  opportunity  to  acquire  the  education  they 
need,  because  the  University  will  not  (it  would  be  more 
just  to  say,  cannot)  give  it  to  them,  then  there  should 
be  no  delay  in  providing  the  facilities  which  their  case 
requires.  It  cannot  be  that  means  are  wanting,  or  ever 
will  be  so,  if  the  alleged  demand  be  real,  to  endow  and 
furnish  schools  fashioned  in  the  strictest  conformity  to 
the  popular  dictation;  for  schools  to  which  hundreds 
are  waiting  to  resort  so  soon  as  their  doors  shall  be 
opened,  can  never  fail  to  prove  eminently  lucrative, 
considered  merely  as  pecuniary  investments.  If,  then, 
this  demand  be  real,  there  exists  not  the  slightest 
reason  for  insisting  that  the  University  shall  provide 
for  it ;  and  if  it  be  not,  the  argument  in  favor  of  change 
crumbles  away  into  nothing. 

To  exhibit,  however,  the  entire  and  true  basis  upon 
which  the  undersigned  rest  their  opposition  to  the  pro- 
posed transformation,  it  is  necessary  to  bring  promi- 
nently into  view  w^hat  is  the  distinctive  characteristic  of 
a  University, — what  is  that  peculiar  function  which  it 
is  specially  empowered,  and,  in  fact,  created,  to  fulfill; 
and  the  possession  of  which  may  perhaps  serve  to  ex- 
plain why  it  is  that  this  frequent  demand  for  popular, 
easy,  or  optional  courses  of  study,  should  be  continually 
directed  against  them,  instead  of  venting  itself  in  the 
very  obvious  and  effectual  mode  of  providing  institu- 


R  E  P  O  E  T  .  25 

tions  of  the  kind  professedly  required.  This  peculiar 
function  is  the  granting  of  degrees ;  and  in  the  exercise 
of  this,  the  University  does  all  that  is  essential  to  its 
office.  The  University  of  London,  at  the  present  time, 
confines  itself  to  the  discharge  of  this  single  function ; 
and  the  early  history  of  all  the  old  Universities  of  Eng- 
land, or  of  the  continent  of  Europe,  shows  that,  while 
they  certainly  furnished  instruction,  and  their  instruc- 
tors were  excessively  numerous,  the  only  recognized 
point  of  contact  between  the  University  as  a  body  and 
the  individual  student  was  that  in  which  the  latter  pre- 
sented himself  as  a  candidate  for  graduation.  The 
value  of  the  degree  conferred  consisted,  of  course,  as  it 
does  still,  in  the  fact  that  it  stamped  the  graduate  as  a 
scholar — a  man  well  versed  in  what  were  called  the 
liberal  arts,  and  in  philosophy.  By  what  course  of 
study  he  had  attained  the  mastery  of  these  subjects, 
mattered  not  then,  as,  in  point  of  fact,  in  London,  and 
to  all  intents  and  purposes  in  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  it 
matters  not  now:  provided  the  candidate,  on  the  appli- 
cation of  certain  severe  tests  of  his  scholarship  and 
knowledge,  was  found  to  be  worthy  of  the  degree,  it 
•was  awarded  as  a  matter  of  right.  These  tests  were 
examinations,  extended  and  thorough,  oral  and  written. 
At  the  present  time,  the  University  of  London  employs 
salaried  examiners,  w^ho  have  no  other  duty  than  to 
ascertain  the  merits  of  applicants  for  the  honor  of 
graduation. 

In  the  older  Universities  it  used  to  be  held,  that 


26  REPORT. 

• 

education  is  not  complete  and  thorougli  until  tlie 
student  has  been  discijDlined  not  only  in  receiving  but 
in  imparting  knowledge.  Every  Baclielor  of  Arts  was 
required  to  teach,  certain  books  or  subjects,  in  order 
that  he  might  become  a  Master ;  and  "  every  Master  or 
Doctor  was  compelled  by  statute,  and  frequently  on 
oath,  to  teach  for  a  certain  period,  which  was  commonly 
two  years,  immediately  subsequent  to  graduation."*  The 
instruction,  therefore,  which  might  have  been  acquired 
in  any  school,  preparatory  to  an  application  for  gradua- 
tion, was  furnished  in  necessary  abundance  in  the  Uni- 
versity towns ;  and  thus  the  business  of  teaching  fell 
naturally,  in  a  great  measure,  under  the  regulation  of 
those  institutions  themselves.  At  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge, from  which  American  colleges  have  borrowed 
most  of  their  peculiarities,  a  new  feature  was,  in  process 
of  time,  developed.  Eleemosynary  establishments, 
called  colleges,  w^ere  endowed  for  the  support  and 
residence  of  poor  students;  and  boarding-houses,  for 
those  who  were  able  to  pay,  arose  in  great  numbers, 
under  the  name  of  halls.  Each  of  these  colleges  and 
halls  was  made  subject  to  the  government  of  a  resident 
master,  who  was  assisted  in  his  duties  by  one  or  more- 
tutors.  Since  their  origin,  the  character  of  these  estab- 
lishments has  undergone  great  changes.  At  first,  the 
proper  business  of  the  tutors  was,  mainly,  to  look  after 
the  conduct  of  the  pupils,  and  enforce  upon  them  habits 


*  Sir  Will.  Hamilton's  Discussions  on  Philosophy,  <fec. 


K  E  P  O  E  T  .  .  27 

of  personal  neatness ;  but,  in  tlie  progress  of  the  muta- 
tions wliich  time  lias  introduced,  they  have  become 
almost  exclusively  the  teachers  of  the  under-graduates 
in  all  the  studies  required  to  fit  them  for  the  University 
examinations,  which  are  to  determine  their  title  to  a 
degree. 

Since  graduation  in  the  English  Universities  depends 
strictly  upon  the  results  of  examination,  and  not  upon  a 
record  of  a  more  or  less  faithful  attention  to  a  pre- 
scribed routine  of  daily  study,  it  might  appear  that  the 
student  there  should  be  subject  to  no  control  in  regard 
to  the  order  in  which  he  may  pursue  his  studies,  or  pre- 
pare himself  for  the  final  ordeal.  But  this  is  not  so.  It 
is  a  manifest  necessity  that,  where  trial  is  by  examina- 
tion, there  should  be  some  established  standard^  by 
which  the  attainments  of  each  candidate  may  be  tested. 
Such  a  standard  can  only  be  intelligible  and  definite 
when  presented  in  the  form  of  a  prescribed  series  of 
books,  of  which  the  contents  are  to  be  perfectly  mas- 
tered. This  reduces  the  business  of  University  instruc- 
tion, which  is  in  its  intention,  and  which  may  be  in  fact, 
a  teaching  of  suhjects  of  hnoivledge^  to  the  mere  inculca- 
tion (for  purposes  of  graduation)  of  the  substance  of 
certain  sj)ecial  treatises  of  science  or  philosophy,  and 
certain  particular  works  of  ancient  and  modern  litera- 
ture. Thus  is  established  what  is  called  the  college 
curriculum  of  study.  « 

As  the  original  design  for  which  the  academic  honor 
of  graduation  was  instituted  was  to  distinguish  those 


28  ,  E  E  P  O  K  T  . 

wlio  liad  submitted  to  a  thorougli  course  of  intellectual 
training,  the  subjects  of  examination,  and  consequently 
the  curriculum  of  study,  embraced  from  the  beginning 
matters  designed  to  exercise,  in  due  and  symmetrical 
proportion,  all  the  faculties  of  the  human  mind.  The 
seven  liberal  arts,  as  they  were  called,  received  this 
name  because  they  were  believed  suitable  to  furnish 
this  training.  They  were  distinguished  from  the  arts  of 
handicraft — the  mechanic  arts — on  the  one  hand,  and 
from  the  arts  of  embellishment — the  fine  arts — on  the 
other.  They  are  fitted,  in  their  several  ways,  to  induce 
those  intellectual  habits  without  which  nothing  valu- 
able can  ever  be  accomplished  in  the  world  of  mind ; 
and  to  furnish  that  exercise  which  is  as  necessary  to  the 
development  of  mental  as  of  physical  vigor.  The  pur- 
suit of  mathematical  studies  is  well  fitted  to  induce 
habits  of  close  and  concentrated  attention,  and  the 
power  of  following  out  a  continuous  and  extended  train 
of  thought.  The  study -of  Language  invigorates  and 
strengthens  the  memory,  leads  to  a  facility  in  delicate 
discriminations,  multiplies  ideas,  improves  the  power  of 
expression,  gives  increased  command  of  the  instrument 
by  which,  mainly,  mind  influences  mind,  and  suggests 
much  material  for  that  species  of  reasoning  which 
rests  on  probable  evidence,  through  the  indications 
it  furnishes  of  the  affiliations  of  the  races  of  man.  The 
more  systematic  exercise  of  the  reason  is  brought 
into  play  in  the  study  of  Dialectics.  Here  the  learner 
becomes   instructed   how  to   apply  the  touchstone  to 


REPORT.  29 

argument,  to  distinguisli  sound  reasoning  from  soph- 
istry, to  arrange  the  materials  of  a  discussion,  and  to 
present  truths  of  inference  in  the  most  impressive  form. 
Rhetoric  cultivates  at  once  many  faculties.  It  stimu- 
lates the  invention  by  demanding  what  considerations 
may  be  alleged  in  support  of  specific  propositions;  it 
disciplines  the  judgment  by  calling  upon  it  continually 
to  decide  nice  questions  relating  to  the  propriety  of 
language;  it  cultivates  the  imagination  by  exercising 
that  faculty  in  all  the  embellishments  of  figurative  ex- 
pression ;  and  it  trains  and  corrects  the  taste  by  em- 
ploying it  to  control  the  exuberance  of  a  fancy  too  apt, 
when  unrestrained,  to  run  into  riotous  extravagance. 
Natural  Philosophy,  in  its  various  branches,  furnishes 
numerous  happy  examples  of  reasoning  from  induction, 
or  inferring  truth  from  probable  evidence.  Moral  Phil- 
osophy is  a  continuous  and  improving  application  of  the 
principles  of  logic  to  questions  which  concern  the  con- 
science; and  in  its  cultivation  is  calculated  to  render 
more  acute  the  power  of  discrimination  in  matters  of 
abstract  truth,  as  well  as  to  establish  principles  in  place 
of  feeling  as  the  guide  of  action.  And  the  Philosophy 
of  Mind,  the  science  of  self-knowledge,  the  most  impor- 
tant, perhaps,  of  all  studies,  considering  its  influence 
upon  the  subject,  furnishes  a  discipline  of  the  most 
superior  order,  as  it  o|)ens  up  a  world  vast  as  that  of 
matter  and  impalpable  as  the  thinking  essence  itself. 
"  Philosophy,"  says  Sir  William  Hamilton,  "  the  think- 
ing of  thought,  the  recoil  of  mind  upon  itself,  is  one  of 


30  R  E  P  O  R  T  .  _ 

tlie  most  improving  of  mental  exercises,  conducing, 
above  all  others,  to  evolve  the  highest  and  rarest  of  the 
intellectual  powers.  By  this  the  mind  is  not  only 
trained  to  philosophy  proper,  but  prepared,  in  general, 
for  powerful,  easy,  and  successful  energy,  in  whatever 
department  of  knowledge  it  may  more  peculiarly  apply 
itself"  Thus  every  study  throughout  the  entire  range  of 
the  liberal  Arts  and  the  Philosophies  has  its  peculiar  use 
and  value  in  drawing  into  activity  and  cherishing  into 
vigor  the  various  powers  and  faculties  of  the  human 
mind.  When  all  are  in  due  proportion  combined  in  a 
system  of  intellectual  training,  the  j)upil  emerges  from 
the  discipline  with  a  mind  well  balanced,  and  equally 
fitted  to  grapple  with  whatever  difficulty.  Should  he 
now  direct  his  energies,  as  is  usual  with  the  majority  of 
men,  into  one  particular  channel,  he  is  in  no  danger  of 
adding  to  the  number  of  those  characters  so  frequently 
met  with,  whose  one-sided  development  renders  them 
giants  within  the  domain  of  their  chosen  profession,  and 
pigmies  without.  On  the  other  hand,  though  in  his 
sj)ecial  pursuit  he  may  attain  eminence  with  much  or 
with  little  labor,  it  will  not  be  at  the  expense  of  dis- 
qualifying himself  for  intelligent  intercourse  with  men 
of  every  other  class.  Let  anyone  look  round  him  and 
silently  count  how  very  many,  within  the  circle  of  his 
own  personal  acquaintance,  are  men  merely  of  a  profes- 
sion or  a  class.  How  many  are  there,  whose  merits  in 
their  proper  vocation  are  the  theme  of  general  admira- 
tion and  praise,  yet  who  are  so  little  thought  of  as  fit  to 


REPORT.  31 

advise  or  suggest  or  lead  in  any  enterprise  out  of  this 
their  peculiar  and  narrow  range  of  action,  that  the 
merest  hint  at  such  a  step,  as  likely  to  be  volunteered 
on  their  part,  is  sufficient  to  excite  a  smile.  It  cannot,  it 
will  not,  be  maintained,  even  by  those  who  most  loudly 
demand  that  our  universities  shall  be  converted  into 
schools  for  technical  or  professional  education,  that  to 
be  a  merely  technical  or  professional  man  is  all  to  which 
a  youth  should  aspire.  It  cannot  be  that  even  the  most 
earnest  of  our  educational  reformers  can  fail  to  perceive 
how  immensely  higher,  in  the  consideration  of  his  fel- 
low-citizens, stands  the  man  who,  whether  his  daily 
avocation  be  that  of  a  merchant,  or  a  physician,  or  a 
machinist,  or  a  farmer,  or  a  lawyer,  or  an  iron-master, 
possesses  a  mind  cultivated  in  all  its  faculties,  and 
stored  with  a  wide  range  of  general  knowledge,  than 
he  who,  whatever  may  be  his  mastery  of  his  particular 
pursuit,  knows  nothing  beyond  it.  These  men  of  uni- 
versal cultivation  and  comprehensive  knowledge,  are 
the  men  to  whom  the  less  fortunate  majority  look  for 
counsel  and  guidance  in  difficulties,  for  collected  calm- 
ness in  periods  of  excitement,  for  the  scrutinizing  exami- 
nation of  projects  of  innovation  or  im]3rovement,  for 
judicious  opinions  as  to  the  results  of  measures  of  policy, 
in  short  for  all  those  manifestations  of  intellectual  supe- 
riority which  secure  to  the  thoroughly  educated  every- 
where a  position  and  an  influence  which  nothing  else 
can  do.  These  thoroughly  educated  men  will  always 
be  the  comparatively  few,  as  they  always  have  been 


32  E  E  P  O  R  T  . 

since  the  world  began;  and  tlie  reason  is,  that  the 
majority  cannot  for  want  of  time  and  means,  or  will 
not  for  want  of  disposition,  submit  to  the  steady,  long- 
continued,  and  even  painful  discipline  which  can  alone 
entitle  them  to  rank  among  the  aristocracy  of  mind. 
To  denounce  our  colleges,  because,  where  hundreds  of 
young  men  are  growing  up  together,  they  only  educate 
their  tens,  and  to  demand  that  their  gates  shall  be 
thrown  so  widely  open  that  all  those  hundreds  may 
enter  in,  is  neither  just  in  the  first  instance  nor  wise  in 
the  second.  For  the  fact  that,  out  of  the  many  who 
might  be,  but  few  are  actually  educated,  is  a  fact  which, 
however  unfortunate  it  may  appear,  is  attributable  to 
nothing  else  but  the  unwillingness  of  the  majority  to 
submit  to  the  intellectual  regimen  which  the  colleges 
prescribe.  And  the  demand  that  some  portions  of  this 
regimen  shall  be  omitted,  and  that  the  stamp  of  scholar- 
ship, or  the  diploma  which  was  originally  designed  to 
be  the  stamp  of  scholarship,  shall  be  awarded  for  a  less 
equivalent  of  labor  rendered,  can,  if  successful,  have  no 
effect  but  to  degrade  the  distinction  and  bring  the 
honor  low,  instead  of  lifting  the  graduate  to  the  posi- 
tion in  fact,  which  he  will  have  thus  secured  in  name. 

It  is,  however,  very  commonly  asserted  by  the  advo- 
cates of  revolutionary  measures  in  our  colleges,  that 
they  aim  not  to  break  down  existing  systems  of  educa- 
tion, if  any  prefer  still  to  cling  to  them,  so  much  as  to 
superadd  other  and  varied  methods,  partial  or  thor- 
ough, extended  or  brief,  according  to  the  option  of  the 
student,  or  of  those  who  direct  his  course  of  training 


REPORT.  33 

Let  the  old  curriculum  stand,  they  say,  for  all  who 
choose  to  follow  it ;  but  let  not  the  college  be  so  nig- 
gardly of  the  treasures  of  its  learning,  as  to  deny  a  por- 
tion to  those  whom  misfortune  or  poverty,  or  advanced 
age  will  not  permit  to  enjoy  the  whole.  We  object 
not — this  is  their  profession — to  any  degree  of  severity 
or  thoroughness,  or  to  any  extent  of  range  which  you 
may  choose  to  prescribe  to  such  as,  bowing  to  your  dic- 
tation, consent  to  submit  to  this  oppression ;  but  we 
demand  that  everybody  shall  be  educated  in  his  own 
way,  thoroughly  or  partially,  profoundly  or  superfi- 
cially, just  as  he  pleases. 

Now,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  let  us  admit  that, 
on  the  plan  proposed,  there  may  possibly  be  as  many 
volunteers  for  a  thorough  course  of  instruction — the 
very  course  now  prescribed — as  there  are  at  present ; 
and  therefore  that  the  studies  of  this  class  may  be  sus- 
tained, without  any  variation  from  the  present  arrange- 
ments, no  matter  how  widely  the  doors  are  thrown 
open  to  others.  But,  then,  with  only  the  present  means 
and  appliances  of  the  college,  what  is  to  be  done  with 
these  others?  If  they  are  introduced  to  the  regular 
recitations  and  lectures  of  the  thorough-course  students, 
they  are  tied  up  in  each  department  to  the  same  inva- 
riable routine,  compelled,  willingly  or  unwillingly,  to 
travel  over  the  same  extent  of  ground,  chained  down 
to  the  same  unalterable  rate  of  progress,  against  which 
we  hear  so  frequent  and  so  stout  protest ;  and,  in  case 
they  desire  to  pursue  but  a  single  branch  of  study,  or 
but  one  or  two,  they  find  no  remedy  in  the  system 

3 


34:  REPORT. 

against  the  necessary  waste  of  two-thirds  or  three-quar- 
ters of  their  time.  They  must,  therefore,  if  properly 
instructed  at  all,  constitute  a  body  entirely,  or  in  great 
measure,  independent  of  the  thorough-course  students. 
But  the  reasons  which  require  that  their  wants  should 
be  independently  provided  for,  would  also  require  that 
there  should  be  independent  provision  for  every  limited 
group  of  them,  whose  choice  of  studies  might  happen  to 
fall  in  a  common  direction,  while  it  diflPered  from  that 
of  the  majority.  Even  in  some  instances,  and  in  many, 
if  this  system  of  free  choice  of  study  should  be  carried 
out  wherever  it  may  lead,  a  single  individual  might 
require  special  provision  for  his  separate  instruction. 
Our  universities,  with  their  feeble  means,  might  be 
expected  to  perform  all  that  is  attempted  by  those  of 
Germany,  with  professors  and  teachers  numbered  by 
the  score  or  by  the  hundred.  "  In  the  German  Univer- 
sities," says  Dr.  Manly,  "  which  boast  of  a  large  circle 
of  branches,  and  are  eminently  expensive  establish- 
ments, professors  are  maintained  who  sometimes  have 
classes  of  not  more  than  two  or  three  students  (he 
might  have  said  one,  and  often,  for  intervals  of  time, 
none),  and  this  in  a  country  where  scholars  are  num- 
bered by  tens  of  thousands." 

This  view  of  the  case  divests  of  all  its  plausibility 
the  proposition  to  transform  our  colleges  into  some- 
thing new,  in  compliance  with  an  imaginary  popular 
demand.  It  proves  that  if  the  thing,  for  which  it  is 
affirmed  that  the  popular  voice  is  so  decidedly  pro- 
nounced, should  be  conceded  as  a  reality,  the  result 


K  E  P  O  R  T  .  35 

would  be  substantially  not  to  transform  an  old  college, 
but  to  superadd  to  it  a  new  one,  or  half-a-dozen  new 
ones ;  the  whole,  indeed,  in  some  degree  lending  each 
other  natural  aid,  but  each  requiring,  in  the  main,  a 
separate  and  independent  management.     Now,  even  to 
this  it  would  not  be  necessary  to  raise  any  very  strenu- 
ous objection,  if,  along  with  the  proposition  to  trans- 
form, it  could  be  shown,  either  that  the  officers  of  the 
existing  Faculties  are  able — and  by  this  is  simply  meant, 
able   physically — to  endure  the  increased   burthen   of 
duties  which  the  change  would  draw  down  upon  them ; 
or  that  the  change  itself  would  bring  with  it  the  means 
of  so  increasing  the  academic  staff,  as  to  make  it  equal 
to  the  vastly  increased  labor.     It  is  evident,  from  what 
has  already  been  said,  that  the  first  branch  of  this  altern- 
ative cannot  be  maintained;  and  if  it  could,  there  is 
no  reason  to  suppose  that  college  officers,  not  usually 
extravagantly  paid  even  for  the  services  they  now  per- 
form, would  submit  to  a  drudgery  which  would  con- 
sume their  entire  time  and  waste  their  entire  strength, 
while  it  condemned  them,  for  absolute  want  of  opportu- 
nity, to  a  complete  cessation,  on  their  own  part,  from 
all  further  intellectual  progress.     None  will  submit  to  a 
degradation  like  this,  but  such  as  have  no  desire  or 
aptitude  for  further  personal  improvement, — none,  there- 
fore, whose  names  enrolled  in  the  list  of  a  Faculty  could 
give  to  a  college  reputation,  or  awaken  pride  among  its 
patrons  and  friends.     As  to  the  other  branch  of  the 
alternative,  the  probability  that  the  change  would  so 
improve  the  revenues  of  the  institution,  as  to  make  it 


36  K  E  P  O  E  T  . 

practicable  largely  to  increase  tlie  corps  of  instruction, 
two  remarks  may  be  made.  If  this  probability  amounts 
to  a  certainty,  it  would  seem  rather  to  call  for  the  erec- 
tion of  a  special  institution,  which,  by  the  terms  of  the 
supposition,  must  be  self-sustaining ;  and  which,  being 
untrammeled  by  the  necessity  of  following,  with  a 
large  portion  of  its  students,  a  Procrustean  course,  must 
certainly  accomplish  its  objects  better  than  it  could  do 
while  so  encumbered.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is 
no  certainty  about  it,  if  the  chances  are  only  equal,  or 
if  they  are  less  than  equal,  that  the  revenue  will  keep 
pace  with  the  necessary  increase  of  expenditure,  is  it 
not  wrong,  is  it  not  almost  wicked,  to  expose  institu- 
tions already  doing  good  service  in  the  cause  of  educa- 
tion, to  the  hazard  of  utter  ruin,  for  the  sake  of  insti- 
tuting a  more  than  doubtful  experiment  ? 

But  perhaps  it  will  be  said  that  the  University  of 
Virginia,  from  which  it  is  proposed  to  draw  the  plan  of 
our  remodeled  system  of  instruction,  has  not  a  numer- 
ous body  of  instructors — ^has  not,  in  fact,  a  larger  num- 
ber of  officers  in  its  Faculty  of  Arts  than  we  have  in 
ours.  This  fact  is  certainly  undeniable ;  but  this  very 
fact  proves  that  the  arguments  which  are  most  confi- 
dently relied  on  in  favor  of  change,  are  entirely  base- 
less. It  is  said  that  we  must  introduce  here  the  system 
of  the  University  of  Virginia,  in  order  that  every  stu- 
dent may  have  the  opportunity,  in  the  words  of  Dr. 
Wayland,  to  study  "what  he  chooses,  all  that  he 
chooses,  and  nothing  but  what  he  chooses."  Yet  this 
the  undersigned  have,  as  they  believe,  shown  to  be  im- 


R  E  P  O  K  T  .  37 

possible,  without  that  large  number  of  teachers  which 
confessedly  the  University  of  Virginia  has  not.     And  if 
we  refer  to  the  statement  contained  in  the  catalogue  of 
that  institution  for  the  last  collegiate  year,  we  shall  find 
that  the  Faculty,  instead  of  making  any  pretence  to  pro- 
vide for  the  varying  wants  of  young  men  who  wish  to 
study  "  what  they  choose,  and  nothing  but  what  they 
choose,"  merely  arrange  their  students  in  classes — not 
the  usual  college  classes,  which  are  the  same  with  every 
officer — but  in  classes  which  may  be  different  in  differ- 
ent departments,  while  in  the  same  department  they 
are  constant  throughout  the  course.     It  appears,  from 
this  authority,  that   the   number   of  classes   receiving 
instruction  in  each  department  is  only  in  a  few  cases 
greater,  but  is  quite  as  often  less,  in  the  University  of 
Virginia,  than  in  the  University  of  Alabama.     In  illus- 
tration of  this  statement  the  following  comparison  may 
be  made.     It  exhibits  the  number  of  classes  simulta- 
neously reciting  similar  subjects,  in  the  two  institutions. 


Latin  and  its  Literature, 
Greek  "     "  " 

French, 
Mathematics,  pure, 

"  mixed,  . 

Geology,  &c.. 
Chemistry, 
Ethics,  &c. 


Univ.  of  Ala. 

Univ.  of  Va. 

Four    . 

.     Two. 

Four 

Two. 

Three  . 

.     Three. 

Two 

Three.* 

Two      . 

.     Three. 

One 

One. 

One 

.     One. 

Four 

Three. 

Total, Twenty-one.      Eighteen. 

The  Virginia  University  appears  to  offer  no  advan- 

*  The  department  of  pure  mathematics  in  the  University  of  Virginia  has  nom- 
inally four  classes ;  but  one  of  these  is  a  class  in  mixed  mathematics.  The  depart- 
ment of  mixed  mathematics  proper  has  but  two  classes. 


38  K  E  P  O  K  T  . 

tage  over  our  own,  as  it  regards  the  freedom  of  the 
student  within  a  given   department  to  select  his  own 
studies,  if  we  except  a  slight  one  in  the  departments 
which  embrace  the  exact  sciences.     Supposing,  there- 
fore, that  the  ordinance  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  this 
University,  which  was  enacted  in  1831,  opening  the 
institution   to   what   were   called   "partial-course    stu- 
dents," should  be  now  again  revived ;  it  w^ould  require 
but  very  slight  alterations  in  regard  to  the  hours  of  lec- 
ture and  recitation,  and  in  regard  to  the  number  of 
classes  in  each  department,  to  give  to  this  college  the 
plan  of  the  University  of  Virginia  complete.     The  lan- 
guage of  the  law  referred  to  is  the  following,  as  printed 
by  order  of  the  Board  in  1837.     "  The  University  shall 
be  open  to  persons  who  do  not  desire  to  take  the  full 
course  and  to  be  graduated  as  Bachelors  of  Arts,  but 
who  desire  to  take  a  partial  course  and  be  graduated  in 
particular  departments  only ;  provided  they  are  found 
qualified  for  the  studies  of  the  department  which  they 
wish  to  join;  and  provided  they  take  not  less  than  the 
usual  number  of  departments,"  &c.,  &c. 

But  it  is  certainly  not  this  plan  which  we  are  told 
that  the  people  demand.  The  promise  held  out,  has 
been  that  the  University,  as  reorganized,  should  give 
instruction  to  all  who  come  here  to  demand  it,  should 
give  them  precisely  what  they  demand,  and  should  give 
it  precisely  when  they  demand  it.  Such,  at  least,  is 
undoubtedly  the  popular  understanding  of  the  proposi- 
tion made  and  widely  published  in  regard  to  our  Uni- 
versity.    If  the  call  for  change  has  assumed  the  definite 


\ 


REPORT.  39 


shape  of  a  demand  for  the  system  of  the  University  of 
Virginia,  it  is  not  because  that  system,  as  it  exists  there, 
is  known  to  the  people  of  Alabama  in  general,  and  by 
them  ap]3roved ;  but  because  that  name  has  been  used 
to  stand  for  the  thing  desired,  and  which,  by  the  pro- 
posed reorganization,  it  is  hoped  to  obtain.  Expressly 
on  this  ground  would  the  undersigned,  under  any  cir- 
cumstances, resist  the  alteration;  for  since  the  system 
called  by  this — for  the  moment  perhaps  popular — name 
is  certainly  not  the  thing  which  the  people  who  are 
said  to  ask  for  change  expect,  it  is  folly  to  suppose 
that  they  will  be  satisfied  with  it  after  they  come  to  see 
what  it  actually  is.  The  thing  which  the  people  do 
really  desire,  if  they  desire  any  thing,  is  that  which  the 
undersigned  have  shown  to  be  what  it  does  not  belong 
to  this  University  to  attempt  to  supply,  on  the  ground 
that  it  either  will  not  pay  and  is  therefore  impractica- 
ble and  cannot  but  be  ruinous,  or  that  if  it  will  pay,  it 
has  no  need  of  the  University. 

The  very  small  number  of  students  of  Arts  furnished 
by  Virginia  to  her  own  University,  as  has  already  been 
shown  earlier  in  this  Report,  is  evidence  enough  that  the 
system  has  not  the  approbation  of  Virginians  them- 
selves. This  fact  will  appear  more  unanswerably  true, 
if  we  extend  the  comparison  to  other  colleges,  where 
the  close  system  is  severely  carried  out.  The  College 
of  South  Carolina,  for  instance,  exhibits  a  list  of  189 
under-graduates  for  the  collegiate  year  1853-54,  of 
whom  175  are  furnished  by  the  State  of  South  Caro- 
lina itself.     The  total  white  population  of  the  State, 


40  REPORT. 

according  to  tlie  census  of  1850,  is  274,563;  while  tliat 
of  Virginia,  as  already  stated,  is  894,800,  furnishing 
only  163  students  of  Arts  to  the  State  University.  If 
South  Carolina  patronized  her  college  no  better  than 
Virginia  does  her  University  (the  professional  schools 
apart),  she  would  send  to  Columbia  but  50  students 
instead  of  175.  The  South  Carolina  College  is  one  of 
some  standing  in  years.  Let  us  take  another,  also  main- 
taining rigidly  the  close  system,  which  has  been  in 
operation  only  for  a  limited  period — the  University  of 
Mississippi.  The  total  number  of  students  on  the  cata- 
logue of  this  institution  for  the  past  year  is  158,  from 
which  subtractinsf  all  but  those  whose  residences  are 
in  the  State,  and  who  are  pursuing  the  regular  under- 
graduate course,  we  shall  have  134,  upon  a  population 
of  295,718.  Yet  if  Mississippi  were  no  more  partial  to 
the  course  of  education  in  her  University  than  Virginia 
seems  to  be  to  that  which  hers  has  adopted,  she  would 
furnish  to  it  only  53  under-graduate  students. 

In  the  following  table  are  presented  the  results  of 
similar  calculations  for  a  number  of  colleges  whose  cata- 
logues happen  to  be  at  hand.  The  dates  are  the  latest 
accessible,  and  are  all  recent.  In  the  first  column  are 
placed  the  number  of  under-graduates  which  each  State 
would  furnish  to  the  college  belonging  to  it,  if  it  fur- 
nished the  same  number,  in  proportion  to  population, 
which  Virginia  furnishes  to  her  University  ;  and  in  the 
second  are  placed  the  actual  numbers  present,  as  given 
in  the  several  catalogues,  excluding  all  from  other 
States,  and  all  who  are  not  regular  under-graduates : — 


REPORT 

• 

Proportwnal 

Actual 

Number. 

Number. 

University  of  Va., 

• 

.     163     . 

.     163 

University  of  Ala., 

• 

• 

11 

107 

S.  C.  College, 

« 

.       50     . 

.     175 

University  of  Miss., 

• 

• 

53 

134 

University  of  Geo., 

1 

95     . 

.     107 

University  of  N.  C, 

• 

• 

100 

139 

Yale  College, 

1 

.        m     . 

.     135 

Harvard  University, 

• 

• 

178 

238 

Dartmoutli  College, 

1 

57     . 

.     160 

41 


It  appears  to  tlie  undersigned   tliat  facts  of  this 
nature,  and  wliicli  admit  of  being  multiplied  to  a  much 
greater  extent,  combine  to  furnish  an  absolute  demon- 
stration that  the  system  of  instruction  practiced  at  the 
University  of  Virginia  is,  for  students  not  attending  the 
professional  schools,  absolutely  out  of  favor  and  un- 
popular where  it  is  best  known, — in  the  State  of  Virginia 
itself.      It  appears  that  not  one   single   consideration 
exists  to  encourage  the  belief,  that  that  system,  trans- 
planted here,  would   be   any  more   favorite  with  the 
people  of  Alabama  than  it  is  in  Virginia.     It  appears 
that,  though  the  name  has  become  a  popular  catchword 
among  those  who  have  urged  the  remodeling  of  our 
own  State  University,  yet  the  reality  which  it  repre- 
sents is  not  at  all  that  thing  which  it  is  evidently  here 
supposed  to  be ;  and  that  its  introduction  with  us  could 
only  lead  to  immediate  disappointment,  and  ultimate 
dissatisfaction  and  disgust.     If  it  should  at  first  be  suc- 
cessful   in    attracting    to    the    University   a  material 
increase  of  numbers — and,  considering  how  much  has 
been  promised  of  which  the  performance  is  impossible, 


42 


E  E  P  O  E  T  . 


perhaps  it  miglit — it  is  quite  hopeless  to  expect  that  its 
popularity  would  outlive  the  discovery  of  the  hollow- 
ness  of  its  pretensions. 

The  undersigned  have  thus  far  argued  this  question 
as  if  it  were  one  of  mere  policy  or  interest — a  question 
to  be  decided  by  the  probable  comparative  popularity 
of  different  plans  of  organization.  They  have  fully 
proved,  at  least  in  their  own  opinion,  that,  even  con- 
sidered from  this  humble  point  of  view,  the  proposed 
change  is  inexpedient,  as  being  full  of  danger,  if  not 
certain  to  end  in  disaster  and  ruin.  But  it  is  not  here 
that  the  undersigned  find  those  considerations,  which 
ought  first  of  all  to  demand  the  attention  of  a  wise  man 
planning  a  scheme  of  education,  which  is  perhaps  to 
give  character  to  the  intellectual  training  of  a  whole 
people,  and  to  perpetuate  its  consequences,  for  good  or 
for  ill,  to  many  succeeding  generations.  It  will  be  a 
sad  day  for  the  cause  of  sound  education,  if  it  shall 
ever  happen  that  our  institutions  of  learning  shall  be 
found  watching  the  fluctuations  of  a  too  usually  unin- 
formed popular  opinion,  and  endeavoring  to  adapt 
themselves  to  its  incessant  changes.  The  will  of  the 
people,  in  regard  to  the  management  of  all  public 
interests,  must  of  course  ultimately  prevail;  but  the 
true  will  of  the  people  can  never  be  known  until  the 
people  themselves  are  fully  informed.  There  are  some 
subjects  which  to  present  superficially  is  almost  of 
necessity  to  present  erroneously;  since  it  is  true  of 
them,  as  of  many  things  in  material  nature,  that  the 
color  of  the  surface  is  entirely  the  reverse  of  what 


E  E  P  O  K  T  .  43 

appears  beneath.  To  talk  of  the  organization  and 
appropriate  functions  of  colleges  to  those  whose  per- 
sonal observation  has  never  extended  beyond  the  com- 
mon school  or  the  academy,  is  almost  necessarily  to 
awaken  unfounded  impressions,  unless  much  greater 
explicitness  of  statement  and  copiousness  of  explanation 
is  employed,  than  it  is  always,  or  even  generally,  easy 
to  give.  Therefore  is  it,  that  to  appeal  on  these  sub- 
jects to  the  popular  judgment — by  which  is  meant  the 
judgment  of  the  whole  mass  of  the  people — is,  as  a 
general  rule,  injudicious  ;  since,  while  nothing  is  on  the 
one  hand  more  easy  than  to  unsettle  confidence  in  the 
existing  order  of  things,  nothing  is  more  difficult  on  the 
other  than  to  make  the  whole  subject  so  universally 
clear  as,  if  evils  exist,  to  insure  their  wise  correction, 
or,  if  they  do  not,  to  re-establish  again  the  confidence 
which  has  once  been  shaken. 

It  is,  on  this  account,  in  the  opinion  of  the  under- 
signed, much  to  be  lamented,  that  the  question  of  the 
proposed  re-organization  of  this  University  has  been 
made  a  subject  of  general  discussion,  instead  of  being 
considered  and  disposed  of  by  the  Board  of  Trustees 
exclusively.  It  is  not  in  their  power  to  say  that  dis- 
satisfaction has  not  thus  been  aAvakened  in  quarters 
where  it  did  not  exist  before.  It  seems  to  them, 
indeed,  hardly  possible  that  some  such  effect  should 
not  have  been  produced ;  but  so  far  from  believing  it 
to  be  their  duty,  in  case  of  the  appearance  of  any 
indications  of  this  sort,  to  give  way  to  the  inconsiderate 
demands  of  a  popular  clamor,  or  to  abandon  the  cause 


44 


E  E  P  O  E  T  . 


of  whicli  their  official  position  renders  them,  in  their 
own  view,  the  bounden  defenders,  they  would  believe 
rather  that  it  belonged  to  them  to  put  forth  every 
exertion  of  which  they  are  capable,  to  enlighten  and 
correct  and  modify  the  public  sentiment  itself  And 
if,  after  thus  washing  their  own  hands  clean  of  all  par- 
ticipation in  the  sacrilege,  they  should  yet  be  compelled 
to  witness  the  consummation  of  the  threatened  ruin, 
they  would  prefer  still  to  contend  single-handed  against 
the  destroyers,  rather  than  join  in  the  destruction ;  and, 
if  it  must  come  to  that  at  length,  to  die  in  the  last 
ditch. 

Discarding,  therefore,  the  question,  will  the  pro- 
posed system  be  popular  or  not — will  it  bring  great 
accessions  of  numbers  or  not — as  being  one  of  but  sub- 
ordinate importance,  the  undersigned  protest  against 
the  system  on  the  ground  that  its  introduction  would  be 
a  practical  treason  against  the  cause  of  sound  education 
in  Alabama,  and  against  the  interests  of  the  great 
republic  of  letters  everywhere.  It  would  be  to  offer 
a  direct  encouragement  and  reward  to  the  desertion  of 
that  round  of  thorough  and  varied  mental  discipline, 
which  the  scholars  of  all  time  have  pronounced  to  be 
absolutely  necessary  to  make  a  scholar.  It  is  to  place 
the  partially,  or  the  superficially,  or  even  the  partially 
and  superficially  educated  man  (for  it  will  come  to  that 
at  last),  practically  on  a  par,  so  far  as  college  sanctions 
go,  with  the  profound  and  thorough — to  prostitute  the 
people's  mint  to  the  manufacture  of  base  counterfeits, 
and  give  to  worthless  brass  the  stamp  of  gold.     For 


REPORT.  45 

the  popular  demand  of  wliicli  we  liear  so  often,  and 
to  whicli  we  are  reminded  that  we  must  yield  if  we 
would  not  be  swept  away  by  it,  is  not,  after  all,  a 
demand  so  much  for  the  opportunity  and  permission  to 
learn,  as  for  the  attainment  of  a  deceptive  seeming  to 
have  learned.     It  is  not  so  much  a  claim  for  admission 
to  the  schools,  as  for  the  diplomas  which  the  schools 
have  it  in  their  power  to  award.     Nothing  could  put 
this   assertion   more    completely  beyond    all   question 
than  the  fact  that  the  outcry  is  never  for  the  erection 
of  independent  schools,  which,  if  the  demand  is  real  and 
is  for  real  knowledge,  would  of  course  be  crowded  and 
could  not  but  be  profitable ;  and  which  would  have  the 
great  additional  advantage,  that  being  erected  to  meet 
a  distinctly  announced  want,  could  be  modeled  on  pre- 
cisely the  plan  best  adapted  to  satisfy  the  impatient 
public;  but  is  invariably  for  the  transformation  of  a 
college  into  some  novel  shape,  for  the  breaking  up  of 
its  settled  system  of  education,  for  the  rejection  of  this 
study  as  antiquated  and  that  study  as  useless,  and,  in 
short,  for  a  Jack-Cadelike  turning  of  the  coat  of  the 
commonwealth  of  letters,  and  setting  an  entirely  new 
nap  on  it.     And  if  we  compare  with  each  other  those 
institutions  in  the  country  which  have  endeavored  to 
accommodate    themselves     to    this    asserted     popular 
demand,  we  shall  find  that,  as  a  general  rule,  when 
they  have  offered  simply  the  knowledge  without  the 
diploma,  the  boon  has  been  regarded  with  contemptu- 
ous indifference ;  but  that  when  they  have  offered  the 
diploma  at  the  same  time,  they  have  sometimes  secured 


46  E  E  P  O  K  T  . 

a  respectable  attendance.  Yet  even  in  this  case,  there 
has  been  no  example  of  a  throng  like  what  has  been 
anticipated  here,  attracted  by  the  concession.  If,  in 
describing  the  attendance,  it  is  allowable  even  to  use 
the  word  respectable,  as  above,  it  certainly  would  not 
be  allowable  to  use  a  stronger  word. 

As  an  example  of  a  college  offering  the  knowledge 
without  the  diploma — permitting  students,  in  other 
words,  the  same  latitude  of  choice  which  is  granted  in 
the  University  of  Virginia,  but  withholding  from  them 
the  honor  of  graduation — may  be  instanced  the  Univer- 
sity of  Georgia.  The  latest  catalogue  of  this  institution 
which  happens  to  be  at  hand  (that  of  1848-9),  gives 
the  total  number  of  its  students  for  the  year  at  140. 
The  number  of  partial  course,  or  "  University  "  students, 
is  not  stated;  but  in  Dr.  Manly's  report  (1852)  a  state- 
ment is  given  from  one  of  the  professors,  which  puts 
the  average  number  at  only  four  or  five.  President 
Church,  in  a  recent  letter,  speaking  of  the  system,  says, 
"  The  result  has  been  any  thing  but  favorable.  Occa- 
sionally a  student  of  this  class  has  been  clever  and  has 
done  well ;  but  most  have  not  been  much  benefited — 
and  in  many  instances  I  think  they  have  been  injured." 
Dr.  Church  proceeds  to  add — and  it  will  be  noticed 
how  completely  the  remark  corroborates  the  position 
which  the  undersigned  have  been  endeavoring  to  main- 
tain ;  "  The  friends,  however,  of  the  Virginia  system,  I 
apprehend,  will  say  that  our  partial  course  is  very  dif- 
ferent from  their  system;  that  it  takes  away  the 
stimulus  to  effort  by  making  the  irregular  student  an 


R  E  P  0  E  T  .  4:7 

inferior  order,  and  depriving  Mm  of  all  expectation  of 
college  honors.  And  this  is  doubtless  true."  Yes,  it  is 
true — it  is  the  desire  for  the  stamp,  and  not  for  the 
knowledge  which  the  college  has  in  its  power  to 
bestow,  which  only  can  draw  students  of  this  class  to 
such  an  institution,  or  make  them  diligent  after  it  has 
attracted  them. 

A  similar  illustration  may  be  found  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Rochester.  In  this  institution  there  are  two 
distinct  courses  of  study  on  the  principle  of  the  close 
system;  one  called  the  Classical,  and  the  other  the 
Scientific.  They  differ  mainly  in  the  respect  that  the 
latter  course  substitutes  the  modern  instead  of  the 
ancient  languages  throughout  the  entire  period  of 
instruction.  The  plan  is  also  so  arranged,  that  the 
student  may  pass  from  the  classical  to  the  scientific 
course,  if  he  pleases,  at  the  end  of  the  Sophomore  year, 
without  prejudice  to  his  standing.  But,  besides  this,  it 
is  permitted  to  students  to  select  their  own  departments 
at  pleasure,  as  in  the  Virginia  University,  but  without 
admitting  them  at  the  end,  like  the  others,  to  a  degree. 
The  catalogue  of  this  University  for  1853-4,  shows,  out 
of  a  total  of  one  hundred  and  eighteen  under-graduates, 
only  eleven  of  this  class,  of  whom  ovljfour  have  advanced 
beyond  a  single  year. 

Union  College,  in  the  same  State,  may  serve  as  example 
of  the  influence  which  the  hope  of  obtaining  a  degree 
exerts  to  enlist  recruits  in  this  sort  of  educational 
guerilla  regiment.  This  College  offers,  like  the  Roches- 
ter University,  the  scientific  and  the  classical  courses 


48  K  E  P  O  R  T  . 

above  described ;  and  it  also  offers,  like  tlie  same  again, 
but  with  tbe  offer  of  a  degree  besides,  tbe  full  freedom 
to  select  a  course  at  pleasure,  whicb  is  tbe  distinguisb- 
ing  characteristic  of  the  Virginia  University.  In  the 
catalogue  of  this  institution,  for  the  third  term  of  1854, 
we  find  a  total  of  241  under-graduates,  and  out  of  them, 
the  large  number  of  57  are  "University  students."  The 
number,  we  say,  is  large ;  and  it  is  so  when  we  compare 
it  with  the  insignificant  exhibit  of  the  Rochester  or  the 
Georgia  University;  yet,  after  all,  it  is  remarkably  a 
minority  in  the  grand  total  of  Union  College  itself. 
Now,  if  this  "  open  system "  is  more  popular  than  the 
other,  the  fact  ought  to  manifest  itself  in  the  colleges 
which  professedly  furnish  both  and  crown  those  who 
follow  them  with  equal  honor,  by  showing  the  balance 
of  numbers  correspondingly  in  its  favor ;  but  this  is  a 
thing  which  never  happens. 

The  University  of  Virginia  itself,  prosperous  as  at 
the  first  view  of  its  catalogue  it  seems,  enjoys  but  a  very 
moderate  prosperity  in  its  Faculty  of  Arts.  Were  it  as 
well  supported  by  the  people  of  Virginia  as  the  College 
of  South  Carolina  is  supported  by  the  citizens  of  that 
State,  instead  of  163  Virginia  youth  under  this  Faculty, 
it  would  have  632. 

The  result  of  these  comparisons  is,  in  the  view  of 
the  undersigned,  conclusive  of  the  fact  which  they  set 
out  to  prove,  viz.  that  the  demand  for  an  "open" 
system  of  instruction  in  colleges,  proceeds  not,  as  is  as- 
serted, from  a  genuine  desire  for  special  or  partial  instruc- 
tion, but  simply  and  solely  from  the  ambition  to  obtain 


REPORT.  49 

the  college  stamp  of  scholarsliip,  without  submitting  to 
that  systematic  and  severe  intellectual  training  which 
only  can  make  the  scholar.  And  it  also  incidentally 
proves,  that  there  is  in  the  mass  of  the  community,  after 
all,  too  much  good  sense,  and  too  true  a  discrimination 
between  pretense  and  reality,  between  the  tinsel  and 
the  gold,  to  accept,  as  a  general  rule,  the  dispensation 
when  it  is  offered;  but  that,  in  contempt  of  all  the 
seducing  railways  to  graduation  which  compliant  Uni- 
versities have  seen  fit  to  construct,  the  great  majority 
still  press  stoutly  on  in  the  difficult  but  well-beaten 
path  which  their  fathers  trod  before  them,  confident 
that  their  well-developed  muscles  and  vigorous  limbs 
will  lend  them,  at  the  end  of  the  course,  an  infinite 
superiority  over  those  who  land  from  the  cars  with 
scarcely  the  consciousness  of  having  put  forth  an 
exertion  by  the  way. 

The  undersigned  are  further  confirmed  in  the  con- 
viction they  have  expressed  as  to  the  true  object  and 
motive  of  the  demand  for  "open"  systems,  by  the 
nature  of  the  objections  so  continually  raised  against 
the  usual  curriculum  of  collegiate  study.  These  objec- 
tions are  invariably  founded  on  the  assumed  want  of 
practical  usefulness  of  the  classics  and  of  the  higher 
mathematics.  "It  is  objected  that  mathematical  knowl- 
edge, to  most  students,  is  of  little  practical  use.  The 
plain  rules  of  arithmetic,  it  is  said,  are  all  which  most 
men  ever  find  occasion  to  apply.  -^^  *  *  Why,  it  is 
asked,  should  a  student  be  compelled  to  devote  years 
to  the  acquisition  of  a  species  of  knowledge  which  is 

4 


50  REPORT. 

useful  only  as  it  enables  him  to  advance  to  the  study  of 
navigation,  surveying,  astronomy,  and  other  sciences 
into  which  mathematical  principles  largely  enter ;  when 
he  has  no  wish  or  expectation  to  engage  practically  in 
either  of  these  sciences;  and  will  probably,  from  his 
distaste  for  the  whole  subject,  forget  in  a  few  years 
what  he  has  learned  with  so  much  labor  ? "  This  is  the 
form  in  which  the  objection  to  the  mathematics  is  stated 
in  the  reply  of  the  Faculty  of  Yale  College  to  a  resolu- 
tion of  the  President  and  Fellows  of  that  institution, 
passed  in  1827,  inquiring  into  the  expediency  of  remod- 
eling the  plan  of  instruction  in  operation  there.  And 
in  this  form  we  continually  hear  it  reiterated  by  those 
who,  among  the  people,  complain  of  the  severity  or  the 
practical  inutility  of  the  plan  of  instruction  here.  What 
is  the  ma^i  to  do — that  is  the  perpetually  recurring 
question — with  the  abstract  mathematics  with  which 
you  weary  the  youth?  Will  the  theory  of  functions 
make  him  a  better  lawyer,  or  the  calculus  a  better 
theologian,  or  analytic  geometry  a  better  merchant, 
than  he  would  be  without  them?  The  objector  utterly 
ignores  any  other  species  of  benefit  derivable  from  the 
study,  but  that  which  appears  in  the  direct  and  visible 
application  of  the  knowledge  acquired  to  the  immediate 
business  of  life.  Even  upon  this  ground,  it  is  not  diffi- 
cult to  meet  and  to  answer  him.  Though  he  may  not 
himself  have  occasion  to  employ  in  practice  all  the 
science  in  which  he  is  instructed,  yet  he  cannot  avoid 
coming  in  contact  with  men  whose  business  it  is  to 
make  such  applications.     Is  it  of  no  importance  to  him 


REPORT.  51 

to  be  able  to  judge  of  men  as  well  as  of  matter?  Will 
it  be  of  no  value  to  him  to  be  conscious  of  some  power 
to  read  and  duly  estimate  tlie  attainments  of  those  on 
whose  professional  opinions  he  may  perhaps,  at  one  time 
or  another,  be  called  upon  to  stake  all  that  he  possesses  ? 
"  Granting,"  say  the  Yale  College  Faculty,  in  the  reply 
above  quoted,  "  that  he  loses  from  his  memory  many  or 
most  of  the  details  of  the  sciences,  he  still  knows  where 
to  apply  for  information,  and  how  to  direct  his  inquiries ; 
and  is  able  to  judge  correctly  of  the  talents  and  preten- 
sions of  those  who  are  prominent  in  any  one  department, 
and  whom  he  may  wish  to  employ  in  the  accomplish- 
ment of  actual  business.  He  is  acquainted  in  the  region 
where  he  is,  acts  more  understandingly  in  what  he  un- 
dertakes, and  is  found,  in  consequence  of  his  knowledge, 
to  be,  in  all  his  transactions,  a  more  practical  man." 

But  what  if  he  were  not  ?  The  undersisrned  desire  to 
rely  on  no  such  line  of  argumentation  as  this.  What  if  he 
does  lose  from  his  memory  all  the  details  of  mathemat- 
ical science  he  ever  knew,  above  the  mere  arithmetic  of 
every  day  ?  It  is  undeniable,  and  no  sound  reasoner  on 
the  philosophy  of  education  ever  denied,  that  the  study 
of  these  details,  if  it  has  been  diligently  and  not  too 
exclusively  pursued,  has  left  behind  it  an  effect  of  inap- 
preciable value.  No  study  can  compare  with  that  of 
the  mathematics,  in  creating  and  fixing  habits  of  close 
and  concentrated  attention,  and  of  following  out  con- 
nected and  long-continued  trains  of  thought.  Yet, 
without  habits  of  this  kind,  what  may  seem  to  be 
natural  gifts  of  the  most  brilliant  character,  may,  and 


REPORT. 


will  fail  inevitably  to  produce  any  valuable  results  ;  since 
in  mind,  as  surely  as  in  matter,  it  is  labor  only  which 
builds  the  pyramids.  Even  Sir  William  Hamilton,  in 
his  able  and  in  most  respects,  it  n^ust  be  confessed,  just 
strictures  upon  the  excessive  employment  of  mathemat- 
ical study,  as  an  instrument  of  mental  training,  is  com- 
pelled to  confess  its  usefulness  in  this  particular.  "  The 
study,"  he  says,  "  if  pursued  in  moderation,  may  be  ben- 
eficial in  the  correction  of  a  certain  vice,  and  in  the  form- 
ation of  its  corresponding  virtue.  The  vice  is  the  habit 
of  mental  distraction ;  the  virtue,  the  habit  of  continu- 
ous attention."  And  though  he  maintains  that  "  math- 
ematics are  not  the  only  study  which  cultivates  the 
attention,  neither  is  the  kind  and  degree  of  attention 
which  they  tend  to  induce  the  kind  and  degree  of  atten- 
tion which  our  other  and  higher  speculations  require 
and  exercise ;"  and  though  he  quotes,  with  his  assent, 
the  observation  of  Kirwau,  that  "there  is  no  science 
which  does  not  equally  require  it," — still  the  experience 
and  testimony  of  ages  must  be  regarded  in  these  partic- 
ulars as  an  offset  to  his  high  authority ;  and  it  must  be 
admitted  as  incontestibly  established,  that  the  mathe- 
matics are  the  most  powerful  of  all  known  instruments 
for  training  the  mind  to  habits  of  undivided  attention. 
And  so  long  as  without  the  power  of  attention,  no  other 
faculties  of  the  mind  are  controllable  by  their  possessor 
so  as  to  be  available  for  any  valuable  end  ;  it  is  to  no  pur- 
pose to  sneer  at  this,  as  being  in  the  humblest  rank  of 
mental  powers,  in  order  to  bring  into  disrepute  the 
studies  by  which  it  is  most  efficiently  cultivated. 


REPORT.  5B 

To  those,  therefore,  who  cry  out  for  the  omission  of 
mathematical  studies  from  the  college  curriculum,  or  for 
a  system  so  conveniently  open  that  they  may  be  able  to 
omit  them  for  themselves,  the  undersigned  would  reply 
that  the  omission  destroys  one  of  the  most  important 
of  the  guaranties  hitherto  regarded  as  indispensable, 
that  the  course  of  study  shall  produce  the  result,  which 
the  University,  by  its  diploma,  is  to  certify  to  have  been 
produced — symmetrical  mental  training  and  sound 
scholarship. 

But  if  the  mathematics,  and  especially  the  higher 
mathematics  of  the  college  course,  have  been  subjects  of 
attack,  the  ancient  classics  have  been  no  less  so.  "  It  is 
often  asked,"  says  President  Sparks,  in  his  inaugural 
address,  "  Why  waste  so  much  time  in  studying  the  dead 
languages,  in  acquiring  Greek  and  Latin,  which  are  sel- 
dom used  afterwards  ?  Why  not  fill  up  this  long  period 
with  studies  of  more  mimediate  utility^  which,  at  the 
same  time  that  they  help  to  train  the  mind  and  form 
the  character,  communicate  a  knowledge  of  men  and 
things,  which  may  he  turned  to  account  in  the  common 
affairs  of  life  .^"  In  the  same  spirit,  an  anonymous 
English  writer,  in  a  vigorous  onslaught  upon  classical 
learning,  published  in  1850,  and  considered  of  import- 
ance enough  to  be  made  the  subject  of  an  article  in  one 
of  the  leading  British  reviews,  inquires,  "  Is  the  mere 
classical  scholar  as  well  fitted  as  persons  trained  in  other 
ways,  for  doing  the  things  which  need  be  done  in  such 
times  as  those  in  which  we  are  living  ?  Do  we  find  that 
this  is  the  best  training,  in  an  active  and  jostling  and 


54  REPORT. 

stirring  age  like  the  present,  for  the  senate,  the  bar,  the 
platform,  or  the  press  ?  Can  the  mere  scholar  sway  the 
minds  of  the  men  of  Manchester  or  of  Birmingham  f " 
Without  stopping  to  remark  that  the  men  who  leave 
the  universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  and  who  are 
here  signalized  as  "  mere  scholars,"  have,  for  the  most 
part,  swayed  the  minds  of  the  men  of  Manchester  and 
of  Birmingham,  down  to  the  present  day,  it  is  sufficient 
to  observe  that  in  these  extracts  and  many  other  similar 
ones  Avhich  might  be  quoted,  we  have  still  the  idea 
standing  prominently  out,  that  the  college  curriculum 
ought  to  furnish  "  knowledge  which  may  be  turned  to 
account  in  the  common  affairs  of  life;"  and  that  the 
course  of  undergraduate  training  ought  to  be  conducted 
with  the  view  to  turn  out  youth  immediately  fit  "  to 
sway  the  minds  of  the  men  of  Manchester  and  of  Birm- 
ingham." The  perpetual  recurrence  of  this  idea  in  all 
the  writings  of  all  the  modern  advocates  of  new  systems 
of  collegiate  instruction,  is  truly  disheartening.  The  ap- 
parent absence  of  any  just  apprehension  of  what  it  is 
which  a  college,  in  its  intention,  undertakes  to  do,  or  of 
any  sort  of  appreciation  of  the  value  of  the  object  at 
which  the  college  aims,  make  it  necessary  continually  to 
fall  back  upon  first  principles,  and  to  fritter  away  time 
and  waste  breath  in  endless  explanations.  The  true 
philosophy  of  this  subject  is  found  so  well  expressed  in 
the  following  passage  from  the  able  letter  of  President 
Thornwell  of  the  S.  S.  College,  to  Gov.  Manning  of 
that  State,  that  the  undersigned  believe  they  cannot 
do  better  than  to  adopt  it.     "  The  selection  of  studies 


R  E  P  O  B  T  .  55 

must  be  made,  not  with  reference  to  tlie  comparative 
importance  of  their  matter,  or  the  practical  value  of  the 
knowledge,  but  with  reference  to  their  influence  in  un- 
folding and  strengthening  the  powers  of  the  mind ;  as 
the  end  is  to  im/prove  mind^  the  fitness  for  the  end  is  the 
prime  consideration.  '  As  knowledge,'  says  Sir  William 
Hamilton,  '  (man  being  now  considered  as  an  end  to 
himself)  is  only  valuable  as  it  exercises,  developes,  and 
invigorates  the  mind,  so  a  university,  in  its  liberal 
faculty,  should  especially  prefer  those  objects  of  study 
which  call  forth  the  strongest  and  most  unexclusive  en- 
ergy of  thought,  and  so  teach  them,  too,  that  this  energy 
shall  be  most  fully  elicited  in  the  student.  For  specu- 
lative knowledge,  of  whatever  kind,  is  only  profitable 
to  the  student,  in  his  liberal  cultivation,  inasmuch  as  it 
supplies  him  with  the  object  and  occasion  of  exerting 
his  faculties ;  since  powers  are  only  developed  in  propor- 
tion as  they  are  exercised,  that  is,  put  forth  into  energy. 
The  mere  possession  of  scientific  truths  is,  for  its  own 
sake,  valueless ;  and  education  is  only  education  inas- 
much as  it  at  once  determines  and  enables  the  student 
to  educate  himself.'  Hence^  the  introduction  of  studies 
on  the  ground  of  their  practical  utility  is^  pro  tanto,  sub- 
versive of  the  college.  It  is  not  its  office  to  make  planters, 
mechanics,  lawyers,  physicians,  or  divines.  It  has  nothing 
directly  to  do  ivith  the  uses  of  Icnoivledge.  Its  business  is 
with  minds,  and  it  employs  science  only  as  an  instru- 
ment for  the  improvement  and  perfection  of  mind. 
With  it,  the  hahit  of  sound  thinhing  is  more  than  a  thou- 
sand thoughts.     When,  therefore,  the  question  is  asked. 


56  REPORT. 

as  it  often  is  asked,  by  ignorance  and  empiricism,  loliat  is 
the  use  of  certain  departments  of  the  college  curriculum, 
the  answer  should  turn  not  upon  the  henefits  which^  in 
after  life^  may  he  reaped  from  these  pursuits^  hut  upon 
their  immediate  sid)jective  influence  upon  the  cultivation 
of  the  human  faculties^'' 

Now,  considered  as  an  instrument  of  intellectual  dis- 
cipline,  the   stud}^  of  language  has,  from   the  earliest 
times  been  regarded  as  inestimably  valuable.     Man  can- 
not think  but  in  signs,  and  the  signs  of  his  thoughts  are 
words.     But  words  in  their  connection  combine  them- 
selves according  to  laws,  which  laws  inhere  deeply  in  the 
nature  of  things,  and  closely  connect  themselves  with 
the  philosophy  of  the  mind.     It  is  not  true,  as  is  often 
asserted,  that  the  study  of  language  is  the  mere  acquisi- 
tion of  a  nomenclature,  or  the  substitution  of  one  nom- 
enclature for  another — a  weary  exercise  of  the  memory 
alone,  with  a  lexicon  for  a  text  book.     So  far  otherwise 
is  the  fact,  that  there  is  no  more  improving  exercise  of 
the  judgment,  no  better  sharpener  of  the  perception  of 
nice  distinctions,  no  more  facile  guide  to  the  power  of 
easy  abstraction,  and  certainly  no  more  rapid  and  effi- 
cient help  to  correctness,  copiousness,  and  force  of  ex- 
pression, than   the  critical  study  of  language.     If,   in 
some  of  these  respects,  it  ranks  below  that  of  metaphys- 
ics, rhetoric,  or  logic,  in  others  it  stands  above  them  ; 
and  if  the  discipline  which  it  furnishes  is  less  severe,  it 
is  on  that  account  the  more  desirable  to  retain  it,  as  it 
furnishes  the  happiest  preparation  for  that  more  trying 
regimen  which  they  introduce. 


K  E  P  O  K  T  . 


57 


But  if  tlie  study  of  language  generally  has  the  value 
which  is  here  claimed  for  it,  that  of  the  languages  of 
ancient  Rome  and  Greece  possesses  this  merit  in  an 
eminent  degree.  In  them  those  principles  of  the  philos- 
ophy of  speech,  to  which  allusion  has  been  made,  and 
which  constitute  in  their  systematized  form  the  science 
of  General  Grammar,  are  more  perfectly  and  more  hap- 
pily illustrated,  than  in  any  other  known  tongues,  liv- 
ing or  dead.  And  not  only  is  it  true  that,  as  languages, 
they  thus  furnish  to  the  linguistic  philosopher  the  most 
interesting,  as  they  do  at  the  same  time  to  the  youthful 
student  the  most  improving,  of  all  the  subjects  em- 
braced in  this  department  of  knowledge  ;  but  also,  it 
most  fortunately  happens,  that  their  literature  presents 
the  happiest  examples  of  language  in  its  proper  use — 
the  most  unexceptionable  models  of  historical,  dramatic, 
poetical,  metaphysical,  and  oratorical  composition,  that 
the  world  has  ever  seen.  We  have,  then,  in  the  Greek 
and  Roman  tongues,  the  instrument  of  human  thought 
in  its  most  perfect  form ;  and  in  the  Greek  and  Roman 
classic  authors,  the  application  and  the  uses  of  the  in- 
strument in  their  most  admirable  and  elegant  illustra- 
tions. So  strongly  have  these  considerations  impressed 
the  educators — it  may  almost  be  said  universally — of 
all  modern  time,  that  the  perpetually  recurring  cry  of 
the  "  practical  men "  of  the  entire  century  which  pre- 
cedes us — Cui  hono?  what  will  all  this  Latin  and  Greek 
do  for  us  in  the  business  of  spinning  cotton  and  raising 
potatoes  ? — has  been  of  no  avail  whatever  to  dislodge 
the  classics  from  our  colleges,  or  even  to  unsettle  the 


68  REPORT. 

firmness  of  the  tenure  by  wMcli  they  maintain  their 
prescriptive  prominence  there.     In  view  of  these  con- 
siderations, how  empty  and  shallow  does  all  this  revo- 
lutionary clamor  appear !     And  of  how  utterly  trivial 
importance  is  it,  whether  the  student  who  has  experi- 
enced  the   inestimable  benefits  which  spring   from   a 
thorough  study  of  the  "Humane  Letters,"  remembers, 
or  fails  to  remember,  through  all  his  after  life,  the  mere 
facts  of  knowledge,  which,  as  necessary  incidentals  to 
this  training,  he  picked  up  during  his  student  career ! 
To  an  objection  of  this  kind — and  it  is  one  of  no  unfre- 
quent  occurrence — may  be  replied,  in  the  felicitous  lan- 
guage of  one  of  our  own  alumni,  himself  an  honor  to 
the  system  of  training  hitherto  pursued  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Alabama  :*     "  Forgotten  your  Latin  and  Greek ! 
Well,  and  what  if  you  have  ?     Who  expects  you  to  re- 
tain, a^  man^  all  the  'knowledges'  that  you  learned, 
as  hoy  ?     But  the  discipline  and  refinement  which  those 
noble  models  of  thought  and  style  imparted,  you  cannot 
have  lost.     You  cannot  have  lost  that  delicacy  of  per- 
ception, that  exactness  of  reasoning,  that  distinctness  of 
moral  truth,  that  elegance  and  purity  of  expression, 
which  the  classics  invariably  bestow  upon  their  faithful 
votaries.     It  is  impossible  to  sit  down  to  a  symposium 
with  the  gods,  and  rise  up  wholly  mortal.     Like  Moses 
descending  from  the  Mount,  you  will  bear,  impressed 
upon  your  front,  some  of  the  traces  of  Divinity." 

But  it  is  only  the  very  unlettered,  or  the  very  weak, 
who  indulge  in  this  utter  depreciation  of  the  value  of 

*  W.  C.  L.  Richardson,  Esq.,  of  Camden,  Alabama. 


REPORT.  59 

classical  study.  There  have  certainly  been  learned  and 
good  men,  who,  induced  by  the  occasional  earnestness 
of  the  demand  for  more  practical  education  for  practical 
men,  have  consented  to  lend  their  aid  toward  meeting 
this  demand.  A  number  of  the  colleges  of  the  country 
have  presented  to  the  applicants  for  admission,  a  choice 
between  two  courses  of  study — one  of  them  that  which 
is  common  in  the  colleges  of  the  United  States,  and  the 
other  distinguished  from  this  mainly  in  the  exclusion  of 
the  Greek  and  Roman  classics  from  the  curriculum. 
The  fact,  however,  that  they  retain  these  studies  in 
either  course,  sufficiently  demonstrates  the  sense  they 
entertain  of  their  value;  a  sense  which,  in  some 
instances  in  which  the  opportunity  has  naturally  arisen, 
they  have  not  hesitated  to  express.  An  illustration  of 
this  remark  occurs  in  a  report  presented  to  the  Board 
of  Trustees  of  the  University  of  Rochester,  by  a  com- 
mittee of  their  body,  in  the  year  1850,  on  the  subject 
of  the  plan  of  instruction  to  be  pursued  in  the  collegi- 
ate department  there.  The  plan  recommended  by  the 
committee,  in  this  report,  which  was  subsequently 
adopted  and  which  is  now  in  operation,  embraced  the 
parallel  "classical"  and  "scientific"  courses  described 
above ;  yet  the  committee,  in  speaking  of  the  classics, 
use  the  following  language:  "They,"  the  committee, 
"  have  no  desire  of  detracting  from  the  value  of  classical 
studies,  and  much  less  have  they  any  disposition  to  go 
over  the  old  argument  upon  the  subject.  They  are 
unanimously  of  opinion  that  the  critical  and  extended 
study  of  the  languages  of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome — 


60  REPORT. 

languages  which,  though  no  longer  spoken  in  their  orig- 
inal forms,  are  still  upon  the  lips  of  many  nations,  and 
live  again  in  several  of  the  tongues  of  modern  Europe, 
constituting  an  important  part  of  our  vocabulary,  and 
affording,  in  the  exercise  of  translation,  a  discipline  of 
incomparable  excellence  in  the  discriminating  use  of 
words,  and  in  all  the  niceties  of  construction ;  languages 
so  copious  in  resources  and  admirable  in  structure,  so 
pure  in  the  style  of  the  authors,  and  rich  in  a  literature 
that  can  boast  of  the  highest  models  of  eloquence  and 
the  best  specimens  of  poetry  in  all  its  varieties ;  that 
contains  the  fountains  of  philosophy,  and  is  replete  with 
the  spirit  of  ancient  civilization;  that  is  stored  with 
glorious  examples  of  patriotism  and  heroic  virtue,  and 
adorned  with  the  gay  pictures  of  an  imaginative  my- 
thology— is  one  of  the  most  valuable  as  it  is  the  most 
elegant  of  studies,  to  those  who  aim  at  distinguished 
scholarship  and  will  devote  the  requisite  time  to  their 
education." 

In  like  manner.  President  Quincy,  of  Harvard,  in  a 
communication  to  the  Board  of  Overseers  of  that  insti- 
tution, published  in  1841,  and  prepared  in  advocacy  of 
a  plan  by  which  it  was  proposed  to  permit  an  entire 
abandonment  of  the  classics,  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
student,  after  the  completion  of  the  freshman  year, 
bears  testimony  to  the  great  value  of  the  studies  which, 
in  obedience  to  an  imaginary  popular  requisition,  he 
consents  to  see  discarded.  "  That  there  are  advantages 
in  the  study  of  the  ancient  languages — that  they  are 
better  adapted  than  most  other  studies,  to  inure  stu- 


REPORT.  61 

dents  to  overcome  intellectual  difficulties,  and  secure  a 
habit  of  solid  and  vigorous  application  at  an  early 
period  of  life — that  these  languages  are  mixed,  etymo- 
logically,  with  all  the  languages  of  modern  Europe,  and 
with  none  more  than  our  own — that,  as  mere  inventions, 
as  pieces  of  mechanism,  they  are  more  beautiful  than 
any  of  the  modern  languages — -that  the  works  they  con- 
tain have  longest  stood  the  test  of  time,  and  pleased  the 
greatest  number  of  exercised  minds — are  reasons  why 
they  should  he  made  the  groundioorlc  of  the  early  train- 
ing of  all  tvho  aim  at  the  distinction  of  a  liberal  educa- 
tion ;  and  this,  on  the  proposed  system,  will  be  effected 
at  the  schools,  and  in  the  first  year  in  college."  And, 
in  connection  with  this  testimony,  it  may  here  be  re- 
marked that  "  the  proposed  system,"  after  a  fair  trial  at 
Harvard,  proved  an  entire  failure.  During  the  presi- 
dency of  Hon.  Edward  Everett,  the  liberty  of  election 
between  studies,  or,  in  other  words,  the  freedom  to 
abandon  the  classics,  was  materially  restricted;  and 
that  gentleman  himself,  as  the  undersigned  state  on  the 
authority  of  a  private  letter  received  from  him,  was  in 
favor  of  returning  entirely  to  a  prescribed  course  of 
study. 

But  while  thus  the  value  of  classical  study,  in  the 
subjective  influence  it  exercises  upon  the  student,  is  vin- 
dicated not  only  by  a  consideration  of  the  nature  of  the 
study  itself,  but  also  by  the  testimony  of  judicious  edu- 
cators everywhere,  even  of  those  who  have  consented  to 
its  optional  banishment  from  the  college  curriculum,  it 
is  not  difficult,  after  all,  to  disprove  the  assertion  so  fre- 


62  REPORT. 

quently  and  so  flippantly  made,  tliat  the  knowledge 
whicli  this  species  of  study  furnishes  to  the  youth,  is 
without  any  practical  use  in  later  life.  And  here,  in 
employing  the  words,  practical  use,  the  undersigned 
would  not  be  understood  to  intend  a  use  so  intensely 
and  literally  and  materially  practical,  as  to  manifest 
itself  in  superiority  of  skill  in  planting  cotton,  or  unu- 
sual wisdom  in  managing  stock ;  for  if  a  test  so  gross  is 
to  be  applied  to  the  attainments  of  the  scholar  in  every 
department,  many  other  branches  of  learning  beside  the 
ancient  classics  will  fall  under  the  ban.  But  if  propri- 
ety of  speech,  ease  and  copiousness  of  expression,  and 
those  various  graces  of  conversation  which  distinguish 
the  man  of  letters,  may  be  regarded  as  practical  bene- 
fits to  their  possessor,  if  the  greater  respect  w^hich  they 
enable  him  to  command  from  his  surrounding  fellow- 
men  is  a  tribute  worth  receiving,  if  the  substantial  addi- 
tion to  his  influence  over  others,  and  to  his  power  of 
benefiting  mankind  which  they  bestow,  be  not  a  thing 
to  be  despised,  then  will  the  man  in  whose  youthful 
culture  the  ancient  classics  have  not  been  overlooked, 
carry  with  him  to  the  latest  day  of  his  life,  advantages 
derived  from  their  study,  which  no  sordid  computation 
of  dollars  and  cents  can  ever  adequately  represent. 

The  practical  usefulness  of  the  learned  languages  is 
also  proved,  by  the  extreme  facility  with  which  to  one 
familiar  with  them,  the  languages  of  modern  Europe 
may  be  acquired.  It  is  believed  that,  with  the  oppo- 
nents of  classical  study,  the  utility  of  a  knowledge  of 
modern  languages  has  never  been  questioned — or  rather 


R  E  P  O  K  T  .  63 

that  this  utility  has  always  been  a  cardinal  point  of 
their  creed.     Now,  since  all  the  languages  of  southern 
Europe,  are  directly  founded  on  the  Latin,  and  the  Latin 
itself  is  much  dependent  on  and  beautifully  illustrated 
by  the  Greek,  the  acquisition  of  these  latter  is  substan- 
tially an  acquisition  of  all  the  rest.     Whoever  has,  after 
a  tolerable  acquaintance  with  the  ancient  tongues,  ad- 
dressed himself  to  the  task  of  acquiring  the  French,  or 
the  Spanish,  or  the  Italian,  or  all  of  these  languages, 
must   have  been  delighted  with  the  extreme  facility 
with  which  he  has  found  himself  able  to  master  them. 
JSTor  is  this  entirely  owing,  though  it  may  be  so  in  great 
measure,  to  the  affiliation  of  all  these  offshoots  from  a 
common  linguistic  origin ;  but  there  is  something  in  the 
thorough   study  of  a  language   which   approaches   so 
nearly  as  the  Latin,  or  the  Greek,  to  theoretic  perfec- 
tion, which  gives  a  power  of  mastery  over  all  other 
tongues  not  obtainable  by  any  other  species  of  prepara- 
tion.    The  following  passage  from  Dr.  Wayland's  inter- 
esting work  on  the  present  collegiate  system  of  the 
United  States,  happily  illustrates  this  proposition.     "  A 
few  years  since,"  says  Dr.  Wayland,  "  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  meeting  one  of  the  most  learned  German  scholars 
who  has  visited  this  country.     I  asked  him  how  it  was 
that  his  countrymen  were  able,  at  so  early  an  age,  to 
obtain  the  mastery  of  so  many  languages.     He  replied, 
I  began  the  study  of  Latin  at  an  early  age.     Every 
book  I  studied,  I  was  made  thoroughly  acquainted  with. 
I  was  taught  to  read  and  to  re-read,  translate  forwards 
and  backwards,  trace  out  every  word  and  know  every 


64  REPORT. 

tiling  about  it.     Before  I  left  a  book,  it  became  as 
familiar  to  me  as  if  written  in  German.     After  tliis^  I 
had  never  any  difficulty  with  any  other  language^-^ 

And  on  this  point,  it  may  finally  be  added,  tbat,  in 
tlie  present  state  of  tlie  world's  literature,  some  famil- 
iarity witli  the  classic  authors  of  Greece  and  Rome  is, 
to  any  man  who  aspires  to  the  name  of  a  scholar,  simply 
a  necessity.  The  literature  of  all  modern  Europe  is 
inextricably  interwoven  with  that  of  Greece  and 
Rome — our  own  no  less  than  every  other.  We 
cannot  be  literary  men,  and  yet  be  ignorant  of  the 
classics.  The  idea  is  utterly  preposterous ;  and  all  the 
attempts  to  decry  the  ancient  learning  by  representing 
it  as  so  much  "  learned  lumber,"  and  thus  endeavoring 
to  bring  it  into  disrepute,  will  have  no  other  effect  than 
to  awaken  the  suspicion  or  establish  the  certainty  that 
their  originators  are  no  better  scholars  than  they  should 
be,  themselves. 

Is  it  possible,  then,  that  the  Trustees  of  this  Univer- 
sity will  deliberately  resolve  to  award  the  honor  of 
graduation,  to  confer  the  diploma  which,  from  the  ear- 
liest history  of  colleges,  has  been  recognized  only  as  the 
certificate  of  genuine  scholarship,  upon  men  who  will- 
fully neglect  that  which  always  has  been,  and  inevitably 
always  must  be,  the  first  essential  to  the  scholar  ?  Is  it 
possible  that  they  will  do  this  ruinous  thing,  at  a  time 
when  the  University  is  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  sound  and 
healthy  prosperity,  such  as  it  never  has  experienced 
before ;  and  such  as,  to  all  who  have  been  familiar  with 

*  Wayland  on  the  American  College  System. 


R  E  P  0  K  T  .  65 

the  early  history  of  other  colleges,  is  not  only  satisfac- 
tory but  highly  encouraging  ?  Is  it  possible  that  they 
will  do  it,  with  the  evidence  before  them  of  an  entirely 
tranquil  contentment  pervading  the  whole  people,  in 
regard  to  the  system  of  instruction  in  operation  here ; 
and  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  proposition  for  a 
change,  published  everywhere  throughout  the  State, 
has  awakened  only  an  occasional  and  feeble  response ; 
while  it  has  at  the  same  time  elicited  from  the  scattered 
friends  of  sound  education  so  numerous  and  elaborate 
and  able  vindications  of  the  existing  order  of  things,  as 
to  prove  beyond  all  question  that  the  sound  sense  of 
the  people  is  satisfied  with  what  we  have,  and  asks  for 
nothing  better  ?  Is  it  possible  that  they  will  do  this, 
and  in  doing  so  substitute  in  place  of  a  tried  and  ap- 
proved system,  one  which  has  not  even  the  guaranty  of 
past  success  to  recommend  it ;  but  which  is  actually,  in 
spite  of  all  impressions  heretofore  existing  to  the  con- 
trary, unpopular  at  home,  and  which  has,  in  point  of 
fact,  already  broken  down  in  every  other  institution 
which  has  attempted  to  borrow  it  ?  Surely  this  cannot 
be. 

That  it  has  so  broken  down,  witness  the  statements 
of  Dr.  Manly's  very  able  and  comjDrehensive  report, 
already  repeatedly  referred  to.  It  there  appears  that, 
in  the  State  of  Virginia  itself,  two  other  colleges  made 
the  attempt,  more  than  twenty  years  ago,  to  introduce 
the  system  of  the  State  University.  Of  Washington 
College,  Dr.  Manly  says,  that  "  possessing  an  ample  en- 
dowment, it  had  no  object  in  the  change  but  to  increase 

5 


66  R  E  P  O  K  T  . 

the  number  of  students^  and  render  itself  more  exten- 
sively useful  to  tlie  citizens  of  tlie  State."  It  appears 
that,  in  this  institution,  the  attempt  was  made,  really 
and  in  good  faith,  to  accommodate  the  instruction  to 
the  varying  demands  of  learners,  and  so  permit  each 
student  to  "  study  what  he  chose,  all  that  he  chose,  and 
nothing  but  what  he  chose"  (a  respect  in  which  we 
have  seen  that,  whatever  the  University  of  Virginia 
may  promise,  or  whatever  its  admirers  may  promise  for 
its  system  here,  it  actually  makes  no  effort  to  fulfill  ex- 
pectation) ;  for  Dr.  Manly  remarks  that  the  college  was 
soon  overwhelmed  by  the  magnitude  of  the  task  it  had 
assumed,  "it  soon  found  that,  on  the  new  plan,  its 
accustomed  work  had  swelled  into  an  intolerable  bur- 
then. With  the  same  number  of  officers  as  before,  and 
710  great  increase  of  students^  the  voluntary  plan  had  so 
multiplied  sections  and  subdivisions  of  students  as  to 
impose  on  some  of  the  officers  the  necessity  of  hearing 
recitations  incessantly,  from  morning  till  night.  These 
small  squads,  having  no  definite  amount  of  labor  to  per- 
form in  a  given  time,  and  wanting  the  stimulus  of  num- 
hers  (a  serious  want),  dragged  heavily  through  their 
wot-k."  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say,  that  after  a  trial  of 
three  or  four  years,  an  experiment  so  full  of  discourage- 
ment was  entirely  abandoned,  and  that  "  every  thing 
was  restored  to  its  original  organization." 

The  other  example  in  Virginia,  cited  by  Dr.  Manly, 
was  that  of  Randolph  Macon  College,  in  1832.  Of  the 
"department  method  of  organization,"  or  that  of  the 
University  of  Virginia,  here  introduced.  Dr.  Manly  ob- 


K  E  P  O  R  T  .  67 

serves,  '^  As  it  had  a  popular-  aspect^  the  officers,  when 
elected  men  of  experience,  entered  on  its  administration 
with  an  honest  purpose,  and  with  the  zeal  belonging  to 
a  new  denominational  enterprise — a  fresh  and  specious 
experiment.  Before  the  end  of  two  years^  tlieir  affairs 
had  run  into  great  confusion^ 

It  is  true  that  Dr.  Manly  says  of  these  examples, 
that  "  remedies  might  have  been  found  for  a  portion  of 
the  evils  which  had  developed  themselves ;"  by  which 
the  undersigned  presume  it  to  be  meant  that  the  stu- 
dents in  each  department  might  have  been  forced  to 
conform  to  a  manageable  system  of  classification,  or 
retire ;  that,  in  other  words,  while  they  continued  to  be 
permitted  to  elect  their  departments,  they  might  have 
been  deprived  of  any  liberty  of  election  loithin  the  de- 
partments themselves — a  state  of  things  which  is  believed 
actually  to  exist  in  the  University  of  Virginia ;  but  it  is 
evident  that  the  officers  of  these  two  colleges  did  not 
regard  such  an  arrangement  as  an  honest  fulfillment  of 
the  promise  which  they  had  held  out  to  the  public,  and 
therefore  they  applied  no  such  remedy.  It  appears 
that  in  the  institution  last  spoken  of,  "  the  more  popu- 
lar departments  were  obliged  to  distribute  themselves 
into  four  classes,  involving  quadruple  labor  to  the  offi- 
cers— and  with  results  to  each  of  these  minor  classes  far 
from  satisfactory.  As  subjects  were  taken  up  out  of 
course,  and  advancements  were  unequal,  students  were 
becoming  ready  for  graduation  at  different  periods ; 
and  had  the  college  followed  out  the  unrestrained  spon- 


68  E  E  P  O  K  T  . 

taneity  of  tlie  system,  they  might  have  been  asked  to 
graduate  a  fragment  every  month." 

Dr.  Manly  also  cites  the  unsatisfactory  results 
attained  in  a  similar  experiment  at  Geneva  College, 
New  York,  in  an  experiment  commenced  about  1826. 
"  Few,"  he  says,  "  entered  the  classes  on  that  [the  open 
university]  plan,  who  did  not  either  retire  or  go  into 
the  regular  course." 

The  experiment  in  our  own  University  of  Alabama, 
tried  for  about  six  years,  between  1831  and  1837,  may 
also  be  fairly  cited  in  connection  with  the  foregoing. 
It  differed  from  the  plan  of  the  University  of  Virginia 
in  very  little,  beside  withholding  the  full  degrees  of 
Bachelor  and  Master  of  Arts  from  the  students  of  the 
voluntary  course ;  while,  like  that,  it  proposed  to  grad- 
uate them  in  the  several  departments  separately.     But 
no  attempt  was  made  here  to  accommodate  instruction 
to  the  varieties  of  preparation  of  the  students  offering, 
by  subdividing  the  classes;  and  this  preparation  was 
evidently  in  many  cases  very  meager.    The  consequence 
was,  the  great  degradation  of  the  standard  of  attain- 
ment, and  the  growth  of  habits  of  idleness  and  vice, 
which  terminated  at  last  in  uncontrollable  insubordina- 
tion.    Of  this  experiment,  the  Faculty  of  the  Univer- 
sity, in  the  letter  addressed  to  the  Hod.  W.  K.  Baylor, 
quoted  earlier  in  the  Report,  speak  as  follows :     "  Did 
it  [the  voluntary  system],  while  increasing  the  number 
of  the  students,  elevate  the  character  of  the  college,  or 
promote  its  prosperity,  or  enlarge  the  sphere  of  its  use- 
fulness?    The  reverse  of  all  this  is  notoriously  true. 


REPORT.  69 

Day  by  day,  the  standard  of  attainment  in  this  college 
sunk  lower  and  lower.  Hour  by  liour  disaffection 
grew,  among  students  occupied  but  a  portion  of  tlieir 
time,  and  left  for  tlie  rest  to  that  idleness  which,  with 
the  young  and  inexperienced,  is  but  another  name  for 
incipient  vice.  The  disasters  which  early  befell  this 
institution,  were  certainly  in  a  measure  chargeable  upon 
its  officers ;  but  we  must  not  forget  that,  at  the  same 
time,  they  were  in  a  measure  attributable  to  the  system 
which  those  officers  were  compelled  to  carry  out." 

About  the  time  of  the  publication  of  Dr.  Manly's 
report,  it  was  understood  that  a  new  university,  on 
the  entirely  open  plan,  was  going  into  operation  at 
Cleveland,  Ohio.  Upon  the  appointment  of  this  com- 
mittee, the  undersigned  lost  no  time  in  addressing  a 
letter  to  the  president  of  that  institution,  soliciting 
information  in  regard  to  its  success ;  but  up  to  the  date 
of  this  Report,  they  regret  to  say  that  they  have 
received  no  reply."* 

If  the  entirely  open  university  system  has  thus  re- 
sulted in  miserable  failure  wherever  it  has  been  tried,  it 
has  fared  scarcely  better  with  those  schemes  for  the  sys- 

*  Since  the  above  was  written,  a  letter  received  from  President  Mahan  states 
that,  owing  to  some  unfortunate  litigation,  the  operations  of  the  university  were 
suspended  about  a  year  after  the  opening ;  and  that  they  have  not  yet  been 
resumed,  though  they  probably  will  be  so  in  a  few  weeks.  The  results,  so  far  as 
they  went,  appear  to  have  encouraged  the  friends  of  the  institution,  and  to  have 
given  them  confidence  in  their  plan.  The  conclusion  of  the  letter  is  in  these 
words:  "For  the  reasons  stated  above,  however,  you  will  readily  perceive  that 
we  cannot  speak  from  extended  experience ;  and  this  is  the  only  form  of  experi- 
ence on  which  safe  reliance,  aside  from  the  considerations  of  the  laws  of  mind  and 
the  wants  of  the  age,  can  be  placed." 


70  R  E  P  O  E  T  . 

tematic  proscription  of  classical  studies  provided  in  what 
are  called  tlie  "  scientific  courses  "  of  several  of  our  col- 
leges. Such  courses  are  offered  at  Union  College,  and  at 
the  Rochester  University,  ISTew  York,  and  at  Brown 
University,  Rhode  Island.  Such  a  course,  after  the 
freshman  year,  was  also,  some  years  since,  offered  at 
Harvard,  Mass.  The  result  at  Harvard  has  already 
been  stated,  by  anticipation.  Nothing  remains  of  the 
scientific  course  there  but  a  restricted  liberty  of  election 
of  certain  branches  of  the  mathematics,  in  place  of  either 
ancient  or  modern  languages,  during  the  junior  and  sen- 
ior years.  The  catalogue  of  the  Rochester  University 
does  not  distinguish  to  which  of  the  courses  individual 
students  belong,  nor  give  the  totals  in  each  ;  but  an  in- 
teresting letter  from  Prof.  Dewey,  of  that  institution,  him- 
self strongly  in  favor  of  the  plan  in  operation  there,  and 
one  of  its  originators,  furnishes  evidence  that  the  scien- 
tific course  has  not  yet  secured  any  very  firm  hold  upon 
the  public  confidence  or  approbation.  "  The  two  courses, 
classical  and  scientific,"  writes  Prof.  Dewey,  "  which  you 
will  see  in  the  catalogue,  you  know  are  not  new.  Union 
College  and  some  others  have  adopted  similar  plans,  and 
find,  I  believe,  the  same  difficulty  in  the  execution.  We 
cannot  keep  any  number  in  the  scientific  course.  I  did 
suppose  that  many,  who  did  not  wish  Latin  and  Greek, 
would  avail  themselves  of  this  course.  Some  have  done 
so,  but  only  a  few ;  and  many  of  those  entering  on  it 
have  afterwards  taken  Latin  and  Greek,  and  fitted 
themselves  for  the  classical.  So  far  as  we  have  had 
scholars  in  the  scientific,  the  plan  has  operated  well. 


REPORT.  Tl 

JSfoiv  we  have  only  very  few,  not  enough  to  make 
mnch  effort  necessary.  The  power  of  public  opinion  in 
fovor  of  the  learned  languages^  and  of  fJie  usual  college 
course^  entirely  controls  our  youth ;  and  I  am  pained  to 
see,  what  I  did  not  expect,  the  scientific  course  without 
many  applicants,  and  even  with  very  few.  This  is  the 
result  here^  Yet  certainly  it  has  been  under  the  press- 
ure of  a  presumed  force  of  public  opinion  in  derogation 
of  the  learned  languages,  and  in  opposition  to  the  usual 
college  course,  that  these  new  systems  of  collegiate  study 
have  been  originated  ;  and  the  fact  that  the  public  will 
not,  after  all,  patronize  them  when  presented,  is  a  satis- 
factory demonstration  that  public  opinion  on  this  sub- 
ject has  been  misapprehended. 

Union  College,  in  its  catalogue  for  the  third  term, 
1854,  has  a  total  of  two  hundred  and  forty-one  students, 
of  whom  nineteen  only  are  in  the  scientific  course.  In 
the  freshman  class,  not  a  single  individual  belongs  to 
that  course  ;  and  in  the  junior  class,  there  are  only  two. 

In  regard  to  Brown  University,  the  undersigned  have 
no  later  information  than  that  furnished  by  the  report 
of  Dr.  Manly.  Although,  directly  after  their  appoint- 
ment, they  addressed  Dr.  Wayland,  soliciting  from  him 
some  statement  as  to  how  far  his  anticipations  had  been 
realized  in  the  subsequent  actual  working  of  his  system, 
they  have  not  yet  been  so  fortunate  as  to  receive  his 
reply.  In  this,  and  in  several  other  instances,  in  which 
their  inquiries  remain  equally  unanswered,  it  is  probable 
that  the  unfavorable  season  of  the  year  in  which  they 
were  made,  while  most  of  the  colleges  of  the  country 


72  REPORT. 

are  resting  from  their  labors,  and  their  officers  are  prob- 
ably dispersed,  has  prevented  their  letters  from  season- 
ably reaching  their  destination/'^  According  to  the 
report  of  Dr.  Manly,  out  of  the  total  number  of  students 
in  the  first  term  of  1852-3,  there  were  forty-iive  per 
cent,  studying  Latin,  and  twenty-seven  per  cent,  study- 
ing Greek.  In  order  to  understand  the  significancy  of 
these  numbers,  it  must  be  observed  that  the  catalogue 
embraces  students  of  one,  two,  three,  and  four  years' 
standing,  while  the  courses  of  Latin  and  Greek  study 
cover  only  two  years.     In  the  fourth  year,  the  ancient 

*  The  commencement  at  Brown  University  was  this  year  holden  on  the  6th 
of  September,  inst.  According  to  the  published  reports,  the  degree  of  Master  of 
Arts  was  conferred  on  twenty-three  young  men;  that  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  on 
eight ;  and  that  of  Bachelor  of  Philosophy  on  seven — the  first  being  a  four  years' 
course,  and  the  other  two  being  each  courses  of  three  years.  The  total  number 
of  graduates  is,  therefore,  this  year,  only  thirty-eight,  of  whom  twenty-three  take 
the  classics  in  full ;  eight  take  them  in  full  or  in  part ;  and  only  seven  not  at  all 
The  suffrage  at  Brown  University  is,  therefore,  more  than  four  to  one  in  favor  of 
classical  learning.  Yet  this  college  makes  the  experiment  under  circumstances  of 
advantage  thus  signalized  by  Dr.  Manly  in  his  report:  "How  much  is  peculiar 
here !  The  reputation  and  energy  of  the  distinguished  president ;  the  enterprising 
character  of  the  population  of  New  England  ;  and  the  degree  to  which  the  results 
of  science  are  immediately  wanted  in  the  new  and  varied  employments  actually 
going  on  around  ;  the  fact,  too,  that  it  is  the  only  institution  already  possessed  of 
age  and  standing  which  has  adopted  these  new  and  promising  features ; — all 
together,  have  given  that  institution  an  increase  of  numbers  which  no  other 
sphere  and  no  other  circumstances  could  supply.  In  a  densely  peopled  region, 
already  educated  above  the  average,  eagerly  pressing  on  the  means  of  subsistence, 
of  accumulation,  or  of  fame,  quickened  to  scientific  inquiry  by  the  direct  superiority 
which  science  gives  to  the  emulous  votaries  of  the  productive  arts — this  institu- 
tion has  opened  all  its  treasures.  IS'eed  we  wonder  at  the  effect  produced  by  the 
glittering  prize  ?  Should  we  anticipate  similar  results  under  circumstances  totally 
different,  we  might  be  greatly  disappointed."  Yet  apparently  these  results  are 
not,  after  all,  especially  brilliant. 


REPORT.  73 

languages  are  studied  by  none  (so  it  appears,  at  least, 
from  the  only  catalogue  at  hand).  In  the  first  year,  a 
large  majority  take  Latin,  and  a  smaller  number  Greek. 
In  the  second,  out  of  the  forty-three  students  (catalogue 
of  1850-51),  there  are  only^y^  who  do  not  take  one  or 
the  other ;  and  in  the  third,  about  one-third  j^art  take 
Greek,  while  Latin  disajDpears.  The  results,  therefore, 
of  experiment  at  Brown  University,  so  far  as  we  have 
them,  serve  most  explicitly  to  corroborate  the  inferences 
which  have  already  been  drawn  from  those  previously 
examined. 

If,  finally,  appeal  be  made  to  the  catalogue  of  the 
University  of  Virginia  itself,  where  the  utmost  freedom 
is  allowed  the  student  in  the  selection  of  his  studies,  we 
shall  find  the  weight  of  evidence  still  leaning  the  same 
way,  and  tending  to  demonstrate  the  fact  that  the  peo- 
ple will  not  abandon  the  Latin  and  the  Greek.  In  each 
of  these  languages,  the  course  of  that  University  covers 
two  years  only ;  and  it  is  presumed  that  there,  as  else- 
where, the  two  may  be  pursued  simultaneously.  Now, 
if  from  the  total  of  the  catalogue  for  1853-54,  which  is 
466,  we  subtract  199  students  entirely  professional,  there 
remain  267  students  under  the  Faculty  of  Arts.  Of 
these,  176  are  in  the  department  of  ancient  languages,  and 
156  only  in  that  of  the  modern.  In  mathematics  there 
are  179,  and  in  chemistry  220,  many  of  the  medical  stu- 
dents taking  this  department ;  while  in  the  remaining  de- 
partments of  natural  philosophy  and  moral  philosophy 
(the  latter  comprehending  also  metaphysics,  rhetoric, 
logic,  criticism,  and  political  economy),  the  numbers  fall 


74:  REPORT. 

as  low  as  106  and  112  respectively.  It  appears,  therefore, 
that  in  this  University,  in  which  students  who  aim  at  edu- 
cation remain  three  or  four  years,  while  the  classical 
courses  are  completed  in  two,  the  proportion  of  the 
whole  number  (two-thirds)  who,  by  the  latest  catalogue 
appear  to  be  studying  the  learned  languages,  is  so  great 
as  to  indicate  that  nearly  all,  at  one  period  or  another, 
enroll  themselves  in  that  department. 

The  undersigned  feel  themselves,  therefore,  fully 
sustained  by  the  unvarying  testimony  of  facts,  taken 
wherever  they  can  be  found,  when  they  assert  that  there 
is  really  none  of  that  aversion  to  the  learned  languages, 
or  distaste  for  them,  and  none  of  that  conviction  of  their 
want  of  practical  utility,  of  which  we  hear  so  much, 
as  being  widely  spread  and  deeply  rooted  among  the 
people.  There  is  none,  at  least  among  those  who  desire 
to  be  liberally  educated,  whether  we  include  only  such 
as  submit  themselves  to  the  routine  of  study  prescribed 
in  the  close  colleges,  or  whether  we  leave  the  decision 
to  the  results  of  free  volition,  and  confine  our  scrutiny  to 
the  most  widely  open  universities  of  the  Union.  Nor 
is  the  ordinary  college  curriculum,  as  a  whole,  disap- 
proved by  the  great  majority  of  the  people,  or  even 
avoided  by  any  large  proportion  of  students  themselves, 
when  the  choice  is  in  their  hands.  "  It  is  found,"  says 
Dr.  Manly,  ''that  those  [colleges]  whose  course  of  studies 
is  fixed  and  uniform  for  all,  have  adopted  such  a  course 
that,  when  the  largest  practicable  liberty  of  selection  is 
allowed,  not  less  than  three-fourths  of  the  students  volun- 
tarily fallinto  it^  as  on  the  whole  the  best;  and  that 


K  E  P  O  R  T  .  75 

tJiis  proportion^  with  Imager  experience^  is  of  late  years 
increasing^ 

That  there  should  be,  nevertheless,  a  good  deal  of 
uttered  discontent  with  college  courses  of  study,  is  not 
surprising.  For  thirty  years  or  more,  it  has  been  heard, 
sometimes  in  one  part  of  the  country  and  sometimes  in 
another,  always  dwelling  upon  the  same  alleged  evils — 
the  tediousness  and  long  duration  of  the  course  ;  the 
unpractical  character  of  the  studies ;  the  sad  waste  of 
time  expended  over  classic  lore  and  the  higher  mathe- 
matics ;  the  absolute  neglect  to  impart  that  training 
which  shall  j)repare  the  student,  as  he  emerges  from  the 
institution,  to  grapple  at  once  and  familiarly  with  the 
affairs  of  life.  But  in  this  there  is  nothinsr  which  ouo^ht 
to  surprise.  "  With  the  present  century,"  says  Dr.  Way- 
land,  in  his  report  of  1850,  "a  new  era  dawned  upon 
the  world.  A  host  of  new  sciences  arose,  all  holding 
important  relations  to  the  progress  of  civilization.  Here 
was  a  whole  people  in  an  entirely  novel  position.  Al- 
most the  whole  nation  was  able  to  read.  Mind  had 
been  quickened  to  intense  energy  by  the  events  of  the 
Eevolution.  The  spirit  of  self-reliance  had  gained 
strength  by  the  result  of  that  contest.  A  country  rich 
in  every  form  of  capability  had  just  come  into  their 
possession.  Its  wealth  was  inexhaustible  ;  and  its  ad- 
aptation to  the  production  of  most  of  the  great  staples 
of  commerce  unsurpassed.  All  that  was  needed  to  de- 
velop its  resources,  was  well-directed  labor.  But  labor 
only  can  be  skillfully  directed  by  science  ;  and  the  sci- 
ences now  coming  into  notice  were  precisely  those  which 


76  K  E  P  O  R  T  . 

the  condition  of  tlie  country  rendered  indisiDensable  to 
success.     That  such  a  people  could  he  satisfied  with  the 
teaching  of  Gree\  Latin,  and  the  elements  of  the  Mathe- 
matics^ was  plainly  impossilleT      Here,   then,   is   the 
source  of  an  early  dissatisfaction  with  colleges,  against 
which,  as  Dr.  Wayland  proceeds  to  show,  these  institu- 
tions endeavored  to  bear  up — not  by  abandoning  what 
they  had  taught  before,  but  by  "  adding  science  after 
science  to  the  course,  as  fast  as  the  pressure  from  without 
seemed  to  require  it."     But,  in  the  mean  time,  they  have 
not  extended  the  duration  of  the  period  of  instruction. 
Had  they  done  so,  they  "  must  have  encountered  the 
common   prejudice   in   favor  of  a  four  years'  course." 
In  consequence  of  this,  according  to  Dr.  Wayland,  into 
the  particulars  of  whose  calculation  it  is  unnecessary  to 
descend,  the  average  length  of  time  which  can  be  de- 
voted to  each  several  subject  of  study  (apart  from  the 
Greek  and  Latin)  in  American  colleges,  is  but  a  fraction 
over  six  weeks.     Hence  has  arisen  a  new  dissatisfaction, 
which  has  had  its  special  and  local  manifestations  of  act- 
ivity, at  different  times  and  in  different  quarters,  during 
the  last  half-century.     It  is,  in  the  first  place,  a  natural 
outbreak  of  that  restless  spirit  of  the  age,  which  chafes 
impatiently  with  the  desire  to  grasp  results  without  sub- 
mitting willingly   to  the   labor   necessary  to   prepare 
them.     But  it  is,  in  the  second  place,  a  feeling  of  well- 
founded  distrust  of  the  possibility  of  teaching  with  thor- 
oughness so  much  as  is  now  attempted,  in  so  little  time. 
And  in  attempting  so  much,  it  is  to  be  apprehended 
that  colleges  have  themselves  done  a  great  deal  to  turn 


B  E  P  O  K  T  .  7T 

away  public  attention  from  the  true  and  fundamental 
object  of  collegiate  education,  and  to  encourage  the  idea 
that  it  is  their  duty  to  train  youth  with  special  refer- 
ence to  what  are  to  be  their  pursuits  in  life.  No  such 
encouragement  is  necessary  from  such  a  source.  The 
idea  is,  to  far  too  great  a  degree,  spontaneously  current. 
And  to  this,  after  all,  with  perhaps  that  entire  but  very 
prevalent  misconception  of  the  distinction  between  edu- 
cation and  instruction,  which  so  often  manifests  itself  in 
what  is  written  on  this  subject,  may  be  mainly  ascribed 
the  earnestness  with  which  the  university  system  of  this 
country  has  been  so  perse veringly  assailed.  "  A  mere 
knowledge  of  facts  and  things,"  says  President  Sparks, 
"  is  too  often  looked  upon  as  the  ultimate  end  of  educa- 
tion ;  whereas  it  is  little  less  than  an  accident^  the  nat- 
ural result  of  the  discipline  and  training  requisite  to 
form  an  educated  man.  It  depends  on  the  single  faculty 
of  memory,  which  often  exists  with  surprising  activity, 
where  the  other  faculties  are  lano:uid  or  obtuse.  Knowl- 
edge  oi pi'incvples  and  causes  is  the  fruit  of  experience, 
observation,  thought,  solid  and  abiding,  deeply  wrought 
into  the  mind  till  it  becomes  an  assimilated  part  of  the 
intellectual  man.  This  is  the  work  of  education,  and 
its  chief  work." 

The  unreasonableness  of  expecting  our  colleges, 
whose  proper  business  is,  and  has  been  from  the  begin- 
ning, to  do  this  work  of  education  proper,  to  provide 
also,  in  the  brief  space  of  time  allotted  to  them  with 
their  pupils,  that  professional  or  technical  training  which 
shall  prepare  them  to  engage  directly  in  the  business 


78  K  E  P  O  K  T  . 

of  life,  has  been  already  sufficiently  considered.     But  to 
what  has  been  said  may  very  properly  be  added  the 
important    consideration    suggested    by   the    question, 
How  much,  after  all,  could  the  college  accomplish,  pro- 
vided it  were  converted  altogether  into  a  school  for  the 
study  of  professions  and  of  the  practical  arts  of  life? 
Keceived,  as  the  students  of  all  American  colleges  are 
received,  with  a  very  humble  preparation,  and  in  most 
instances  with  no  established  mental  habits,  or  with 
very  bad  ones,  they  are  not  fit — at  least  as  a  general 
y^Iq — to  be  directly  introduced  to  the  study  of  those 
professions  or  arts  which  are  to  occupy  them  in  actual 
life.     If  it  be  replied  here,  that  the  proposition  is  not 
necessarily   to   introduce   them  to   those   studies   thus 
directly,  but  only  to  make  their  elementary  training  of 
such    as    are   manifestly  subsidiary  or  fundamental  to 
them,  the   rejoinder   may  be   that   the  entire   college 
course  contains  nothing  which  is  not  subsidiary  to  the 
successful   study  of  any  profession;    and   that,   if  the 
intention   be   to   indicate   those   studies  which  have  a 
direct  affinity  with  the  intended  pursuit,  the  objection 
to  their  exclusive  use  is  the  serious  one,  that  they  will 
inevitably  prevent  the  equal  development  of  the  facul- 
ties, and  end  in  producing  an  unequally  balanced  mind. 
Yet,  waiving  every  objection  of  this  nature,  what,  after 
all,  can  the  college  do,  at  best  or  at  worst,  toward  turn- 
ing out  a  practical  man  ?     While  time  lasts,  the  farmer 
will  continue  to  be  made  in  the  field,  the  manufacturer 
in  the  shop,  the  merchant   in  the   counting-room,  the 
civil  engineer  in  the  midst  of  the  actual  operations  of 


REPORT.  79 

his  science.  The  well-educated  student,  when  he  re- 
ceives his  diploma,  is  fitted,  indeed,  to  enter  upon  any  of 
these  scenes  of  labor,  and  is  capable,  by  his  own  inde- 
pendent effort,  of  perfecting  himself  in  the  knowledge 
and  the  skill  which  they  demand  ;  but  to  expect,  by 
any  kind  of  college  training  whatever,  to  furnish  him 
with  the  ability  or  inspire  him  with  the  confidence  to 
stand  forth  as  a  master  of  any  one  of  these  or  similar 
professions,  is  entirely  unreasonable  and  preposterous. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  much  of  the  bias  in 
favor  of  open  universities  for  the  instruction  of  youth 
and  men  in  all  descriptions  of  knowledge,  has  grown 
out  of  the  vague  and  generally  erroneous  notions  float- 
ing through  the  country,  in  regard  to  the  character  of 
the  universities  of  Germany.  These  institutions  are 
substantially  professional  schools ;  and  if  any  of  their 
students  are  engaged  in  pursuits  merely  literary  or 
scientific,  those  pursuits  are  of  an  order  much  less 
elementary  than  such  as  occupy  the  young  men  in  our 
colleges.  "The  institution  in  Germany,"  observe  the 
Faculty  of  Yale  College,  in  their  report  already  quoted, 
"  which  corresponds  most  nearly  to  our  college,  is  the 
gymnasium.  The  universities  are  mostly  occupied  with 
professional  students.  In  Halle,  for  example,  of  eleven 
hundred  students,  all  except  sixty  are  engaged  in  the 
study  of  theology,  law,  and  medicine."  As  to  the 
actual  amount  of  instruction  given  in  the  gymnasia,  the 
unpublished  pamphlet  of  Bishop  Potter,  mentioned  in  a 
different  part  of  this  Report,  cites,  from  the  Report  of 
Prof.  Bache,  on  the  State  of  Education  in  Europe,  the 


so  REPORT. 

examples  of  three  Prussian  gymnasia,  two  in  Berlin  and 
one  at  Pforta,  "  as  representatives  of  tlie  instruction  of 
the  kingdom,  preparatory  to  the  university  course." 
From  these  examples  it  appears,  that  "  the  pupil  in  two 
of  these  German  gymnasia  studies  nearly  if  not  quite  as 
much  mathematics  as  in  our  [Pennsylvania]  University, 
and  makes  respectable  proficiency  in  Physics,  Physical 
Geography,  Mechanics,  and  Chemistry.  In  that  which 
concedes  the  least  time  to  science  (Pforta),  he  is  taken 
into  Conic  Sections,  the  Diophantine  Analysis,  Trig- 
onometry, Physics,  Magnetism,  &c."  And  in  regard  to 
Latin  and  Greek,  and  also  Hebrew,  the  instruction  is 
more  thorough  than  is  probaldy  furnished  in  any  of  our 
colleges.*  No  argument,  therefore,  can  be  drawn  from 
the  educational  institutions  of  Germany  to  ours ;  or  if 
such  a  one  should  be  attempted,  it  ought  to  be  rather 
for  the  creation  of  a  new  and  higher  description  of 
schools,  to  w^hich  none  but  those  w^ho  have  completed 
the  usual  course  of  college  study  should  be  admitted, 
rather  than  for  the  conversion  of  our  existing  colleges 
into  what  in  Germany  would  be  mere  nondescripts, 
having  the  form  of  the  university  and  the  grade  of  the 
gymnasium. 

There  is,  moreover,  reason  to  believe  that  the  word 
university,  in  its  popular  acceptation  in  this  country, 
has  had  something  to  do  with  promoting  the  bias  of 
which  mention  has  just  been  made.  This  word,  says 
Sir  "William  Hamilton,  "  in  the  language  of  the  middle 
ages,  was  applied  either  loosely  to  any  understood  class 

*  Princeton  Review,  Oct.  1852,  and  Oct.  1853. 


REPORT.  81 

of  persons ;  or  strictly  (in  the  acceptation  of  the  Roman 
law)  to  a  public  incorporation,  more  especially  (as 
equivalent  with  communitas)  to  the  members  of  a 
municipality,  or  to  the  members  of  a  '  general  study ' : " 
— studimn  generale^  "  the  oldest  word  for  an  un exclusive 
institution  of  higher  education."  Thus  the  name  uni- 
versity denoted  the  entire  body  of  persons  engaged  in 
study,  under  a  given  organization,  and  not,  as  it  is  now 
commonly  understood,  the  entire  circle  of  possible  sub- 
jects of  study: — it  was  Universitas  doctorum  et  scJiola- 
rium^  and  not  Universitas  scientiarum.  It  further 
appears,  according  to  the  same  authority,  that  "it  was 
the  common  custom  to  erect  a  university  in  only 
certain  Faculties ;  and  not  unfrequently  a  concession  of 
the  others  was  subsequently  added."  Instances  are 
cited  of  universities  established  without  any  Faculty 
of  Arts,  and  of  others  in  which  one  or  more  of  the 
higher  Faculties  were  originally  wanting.  The  mistake 
in  regard  to  the  meaning  of  this  word,  which  in  Eng- 
land has  led  to  consequences  of  serious  practical  import- 
ance, and  occasioned  the  agitation  of  legal  questions  of 
moment,  has  in  this  country  been  productive  of  the  less 
grave  but  still  annoying  evil  of  aiding  to  promote  those 
movements  which  have  had  for  their  object  the  break- 
ing up  of  the  established  collegiate  system.  It  may 
seem  strange  that  a  mere  question  of  verbal  definition 
should  exercise  any  important  influence  in  a  question  of 
this  kind.  To  a  thoughtful  mind  it  would  seem  that,  if 
the  common  acceptation  of  the  word  were  a  correct 
one,  then  in  its  application  to  the  institutions  which  we 

6 


82  K  E  P  O  E  T  . 

call  universities  it  is  a  misnomer,  capable  of  being  cor- 
rected by  the  simplest  of  all  possible  processes,  the 
adoption  of  a  new  name ;  but  by  no  means  involving 
the  absurd  necessity  of  remodeling  the  institution  to 
suit  the  word.  It  has  nevertheless  had  its  effect ;  and 
this  rarely  fails  to  be  perceptible,  in  any  argument  put 
forward  in  favor  of  changes  like  that  which  is  now 
urged  upon  the  University  of  Alabama. 

In  conclusion,  the  undersigned  cannot  but  believe, 
that,  on  questions  of  this  kind,  some  consideration  is 
due  to  the  weight  of  authority.  The  most  eminent 
educators  of  youth  in  America,  are  almost  with  one 
voice  opposed  to  a  system  like  that  of  the  University  of 
Virginia,  for  American  colleges.  The  Faculty  of  Yale 
College,  at  the  time  of  the  publication  of  their  ably 
argued  letter  to  the  trustees  of  that  institution,  from 
which  repeated  quotations  have  been  made  in  this 
Report,  embraced  some  of  the  most  distinguished  and 
experienced  instructors  whom  this  country  has  pro- 
duced ;  among  whom  we  may  especially  signalize  Presi- 
dent Day,  and  Professors  Kingsley,  Silliman,  Goodrich, 
and  Olmsted. 

It  is  certain  that  no  college  in  the  United  States  has 
ever  commanded  a  higher  respect,  or  possessed  a  more 
extended  popularity,  than  this.  And  it  is  remarkable 
that  though  it  was  among  the  first — perhaps  quite  the 
first — to  take  a  public  and  decided  stand  in  opposition 
to  the  views  of  those  who  would  break  up  the  existing 
college  system,  and  especially  of  those  who  would  dis- 
card  the   learned   languages   from   the   curriculum   of 


REPORT.  83 

college  study,  yet  no  period  of  its  whole  history  has 
been  distinguished  by  a  more  signal  prosperity  than 
that  which  has  since  elapsed.  At  no  time  have  the 
Faculty  of  that  celebrated  institution  shown  the  slight- 
est disposition  to  descend  from  the  high  position  which 
they  assumed  in  1828 ;  and  a  recent  letter  received 
from  Dr.  Woolsey,  the  accomplished  scholar  who  at 
present  presides  over  it,  accords  entirely  with  the  views 
which  have  been  expressed  in  this  Report.  "We  have 
ever,"  writes  Dr.  Woolsey,  "  been  averse  to  the  system 
pursued  at  Charlottesville,  on  the  ground  principally 
that  students,  at  that  stage  of  their  education  when 
they  are  in  college,  are  incompetent  to  choose  what 
they  ought  to  study ;  and  on  the  ground  that,  at  that 
season,  there  is  need  of  drilling  and  close  examination — 
of  a  daily  responsibility — habits  of  study  being  yet  un- 
formed, and  immediate  motives  being  needed  to  put 
young  minds  at  work.  It  is  surprising  how  much 
stronger  a  motive  acts  in  professional  study  than  in 
preparatory ;  the  student  in  the  former  case  feeling 
that  success  in  life  is  in  a  good  degree  connected  with 
his  diligence,  and  by  no  means  so  much  in  the  latter. 
Hence  we  are  disinclined  to  an  optional  and  to  a  lecture 
system.  We  would  introduce  both  sparingly,  and 
toward  the  close  of  a  college  life.  And  indeed  a  lec- 
ture system,  without  frequent  examination,  is  of  small 
account." 

Dr.  Woolsey  then  proceeds  to  consider  the  objections 
which  are  usually  urged  against  the  existing  system. 
He  observes,  "There  are  two  principal  ones,  1st,  that 


84:  E  E  P  O  E  T  . 

students  will  not  study  what  they  do  not  like ;  and  2d, 
that  there  is  an  inaptitude  in  some  for  certain  branches. 
To  which  may  be  added,  that  the  course  from  the  first 
may  be  accommodated,  on  the  optional  system,  to  the 
profession  chosen.  In  reply  to  the  last  objection,  we 
say  that  the  discipline  of  languages  and  mathematics, 
and  of  moral  science,  is  too  evidently  needed  by  all  to 
allow  us  to  doubt  that  it  is,  in  the  main,  the  correct 
system.  The  one-sidedness  of  men  educated  only  (for 
example)  for  and  in  physical  science,  is  quite  apparent. 

"There  is  real  force  in  the  other  objections.  Stu- 
dents cannot,  as  you  must  know,  sometimes,  be  found 
to  take  hold  of  mathematics  or  Greek ;  and  a  college 
life  does  some,  therefore,  but  little  good.  Others  are 
incompetent,  or  nearly  so,  to  master  one  of  the  dis- 
ciplinary studies.  The  question  arises,  Is  it  desirable  to 
modify  the  system  for  this  sort  of  minds  ?  How  much 
will  they  gain  on  any  system  ?  Many  of  them  very 
little.  For  the  rest,  I  would  have  a  certain  optional 
system,  say  after  half  an  academical  life  is  over,  in 
which  hard  mathematics  could  be  chewed  by  those  who 
don't  like  Greek,  and  hard  Greek  by  those  who  don't 
like  mathematics.  You  will  see  that  we  are  old  Fogies 
here.     JSfolumus  leges  Anglice  mutareP 

The  position  of  Hon.  Edward  Everett,  former  Presi- 
dent of  Harvard  University,  on  this  question,  as  indi- 
cated by  himself,  has  already  been  given.  That  of  Dr. 
Walker,  the  present  able  head  of  the  same  University, 
is  expressed  in  a  letter  holding  the  following  decisive 
language :  "  We  are  far  from  wishing  to  prejudge  the 


REPORT.  ^^'^•"   "■'  -  -^-  85 

result  of  the  experiments  wlaicli  other  colleges  are 
trying.  Our  own  experience,  as  far  as  it  went,  has 
satisfied  us  that,  in  American  colleges,  neither  the  age, 
nor  the  proficiency,  nor  the  number  of  the  students,  nor 
the  number  of  the  teachers,  are  such  as  to  make  the 
introduction  of  an  unrestricted  elective  system  either 
advisable  or  practicable.  Merely  to  arrange  the  hours 
of  recitation  on  this  plan  so  that  they  shall  not  inter- 
fere, and  yet  secure  to  each  student  his  share  of  atten- 
tion and  keep  him  properly  employed,  will  be  found  to 
be  an  almost  insuperable  difficulty.  Most  of  the  objects 
aimed  at  by  the  voluntary  system,  are  more  effectually 
and  satisfactorily  reached,  as  we  think,  by  scientific 
and  professional  schools  connected  with  the  college 
proper." 

Bishop  Potter,  of  Pennsylvania,  whose  large  expe- 
rience as  an  officer  and  a  trustee  of  several  colleges,  and 
whose  signal  ability  and  ardent  zeal,  displayed  in  the 
cause  of  education,  entitle  his  opinion  to  the  highest 
respect — who,  it  may  be  added,  is  also  an  earnest  advo- 
cate of  the  open  university  system,  in  its  proper  place  ; 
and  that  is,  "where  young  men,  older  and  better 
trained  than  our  ordinary  collegians,  with  more  active 
desire  for  improvement,"  and  "  where  graduates  of  our 
colleges,  and  other  young  men  bent  on  gaining  knowl- 
edge," can  be  relied  on  to  apply  for  its  advantages, — 
concludes  an  interesting  letter  on  this  general  subject, 
in  these  impressive  words : — 

"The  attempt  to  popularize  a  college,  is  too  often 
an  attempt  to  extinguish  its  collegiate  character,  and 


86  REPORT. 

transform  it  into  a  Mgli  scliool.  The  classics  are  not 
taught  as  they  should  be  in  our  colleges ;  and  the  great 
reason  is,  that  too  much  time  is  given  to  other  studies. 
In  connection  with  the  moral  sciences,  they  are  still,  in 
my  judgment — when  well  taught — the  best  gymnastic 
for  the  production  of  a  high  culture,  such  as  we  must 
have  in  the  United  States,  if  we  mean  to  advance  the 
great  work  of  Christian  civilization,  and  raise  up  divines, 
statesmen,  and  patriots,  such  as  we  need,  perhaps,  more 
than  any  other  nation  in  the  world." 

Hon.  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  long  Chancellor  of 
the  New  York  City  University,  and  now  President  of 
Eutgers  College,  New  Jersey,  speaks  thus :  "  The  plan 
of  remodeling  our  colleges  for  the  times^  is,  in  my  poor 
judgment,  very  unpromising  to  the  interests  of  a  sound 
education.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  that  the  old 
time-honored  system  furnishes  to  the  student  the  ele- 
ments of  every  art  and  science  that  the  modern  activity 
of  the  mind  has  called  into  prominent  notice.  The 
benefits  to  be  derived  from  classical  studies  (the  dead 
languages,  as  they  are  called),  are  so  rich  and  various, 
that  it  would  be  a  calamity  to  put  them  aside.  They 
discipline  the  mind  and  strengthen  its  powers,  while 
they  purify  the  taste.  And  moreover,  we  must  rely 
upon  them  for  the  knowledge  of  our  own  language. 
The  classics,  like  the  works  of  the  great  artists  of  other 
times  in  painting  and  sculpture,  are  to  be  studied  for 
their  purity,  and  will  abundantly  recompense  the  stu- 
dent. I  hope  they  may  still  have  a  full  share  of  the 
college  course.     They  should  be  studied,  if  never  opened 


REPORT.  87 

again  in  after  life.     Mucli  of  the  benefit  will  live  after 
them." 

Dr.  Thornwell,  President  of  S.  C.  College,  in  his 
letter  to  Gov.  Manning,  already  quoted  from,  expresses 
himself  on  the  subject  of  two  changes  which  had  been 
proposed  in  tl^t  institution — the  first  being  to  introduce^ 
substantially,  the  Virginia  scheme ;  and  the  second  to 
permit  students  to  confine  themselves  to  special  branches 
of  study — as  follows  :  "  In  the  first  place,  young  men 
are  incompetent  to  pronounce  beforehand  what  studies 
are  subjectively  the  most  beneficial.  It  requires  those 
who  have  experienced  the  disciplinary  power  of  diffe- 
rent studies,  to  determine  their  relative  value.  Only  a 
scholar  can  say  what  will  make  a  scholar.  The  expe- 
rience of  the  world  has  settled  down  upon  a  certain 
class  and  order  of  studies ;  and  the  verdict  of  ages  and 
generations  is  not  to  be  set  aside  by  the  caprices,  whims, 
or  prejudices  of  those  who  are  not  even  able  to  compre- 
hend the  main  end  of  education.  In  the  next  place,  if 
our  undergraduates  were  competent  to  form  a  judg- 
ment, their  natural  love  of  indolence  and  ease  would,  in 
the  majority  of  cases,  lead  them  to  exclude  those  very 
studies  which  are  the  most  improving,  precisely  because 
they  are  so ;  that  is,  because  in  themselves  and  in  the 
method  of  teaching  them,  they  involve  a  degree  and 
intensity  of  mental  exercise  which  is  positively  painful. 
Self-denial  is  not  natural  to  man  ;  and  he  manifests  but 
little  acquaintance  with  human  nature,  who  presumes, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  that  the  loill  will  choose  what  the 
judgment  commends.      Video  meliora  prohoque^  deteriora 


88  REPORT. 

sequor^  is  more  pre-eminently  true  of  tlie  young  than  of 
the  old.  They  are  the  creatures  of  impulse.  ^  ^  '^ 
Easy  exercises  are  preferred,  simply  because  they  do  not 
tax  the  mind.  The  practical  problem  with  the  mass  of 
students  is — ^the  least  work  and  the  easiest  done.  Is  it 
easy  %  Is  it  short  ?  these  are  the  questions  which  are  first 
asked  about  a  lesson.  I  must  therefore  consider  any 
attempt  to  relax  the  compulsory  feature  of  the  college 
course,  as  an  infallible  expedient  for  degrading  educa- 
tion. The  college  will  cease  to  train.  It  may  be  a 
place  for  literary  triflers,  but  a  place  for  students  it 
cannot  be." 

And  again :  "  With  respect  to  the  other  change,  that 
of  allowing  students  under  certain  circumstances,  to 
pursue  a  partial  course,  it  is  evidently  contradictory  to 
the  fundamental  aim  of  the  college.  These  students 
are  not  seeking  knowledge  for  the  sake  of  discipline, 
but  with  reference  to  ulterior  uses.  They  come  not  to 
be  trained  to  think^  but  to  learn  to  act  in  definite 
departments  of  exertion.  It  is  professional^  not  liheral 
education  which  they  want.  The  want,  I  acknowledge, 
should  be  gratified ;  it  is  a  demand  which  should  be 
supplied.  But  the  college  is  not  the  place  to  do  it. 
That  was  founded  for  other  purposes,  and  it  is  simply 
preposterous  to  abrogate  its  constitution  out  of  conces- 
sions to  a  necessity,  because  the  necessity  happens  to  be 
real.  What  therefore  ought  to  be  done  is,  not  to 
change  the  nature  of  the  college,  but,  leaving  that  un- 
touched to  do  its  own  work,  to  organize  schools  with 
special  reference  to  this  class  of  wants." 


REPORT.  89 

The  following  emphatic  expression  of  opinion,  is  from 
Dr.  Church,  whose  great  experience  at  the  head  of  the 
University  of  Georgia,  where  the  voluntary  system  in 
one  form,  has  long  been  subject  of  experiment,  entitles 
it  to  much  weight :  "  Far  the  larger  number  of  students 
who  enter  the  colleges  of  the  United  States  are,  I  ap- 
prehend, too  young  to  be  thrown  upon  their  own  respon- 
sibility in  a  matter  of  so  much  importance  as  their  edu- 
cation. They  are  incapable  of  judging  what  is  best  for 
their  mental  and  moral  culture.  Leave  them  to  elect 
the  studies  which  they  will  pursue,  and  much  the  larger 
portion  will  take  what  they  consider  the  easiest  and 
pleasantest  course.  Leave  them  to  study  or  not  to 
study,  and  most  will  prefer  the  pleasant  circle  of  friends, 
to  the  labor  and  self-denial  necessary  to  profitable  men- 
tal culture.  *  *  ^  Study  is  labor ;  and  but  few  will, 
at  the  age  at  which  most  of  our  college  students  enter 
our  institutions,  bend  the  energies  of  their  minds  to  the 
acquisition  of  knowledge,  if  left  wholly  to  themselves. 
The  Virginia  system  was  intended,  I  suppose,  by  its 
illustrious  founder,  for  men — not  hoys.  It  would  answer 
well  for  our  best  scholars,  who  wish  to  prosecute  their 
studies  after  having  gone  through  a  good  collegiate 
course.  Till  the  young  man  is  about  twenty-one,  I  am 
of  opinion  that  it  is  the  great  business  of  education  to 
develop  and  to  properly  discipline  his  intellectual  and 
moral  powers  and  susceptibilities.  I  apprehend  that  our 
usual  course  of  study  is  as  well  calculated  to  do  this  as 
any  which  has  yet  been  suggested.  And  if,  in  the  com- 
mon college  course,  and  under  the  usual  discipline,  all 


90  REPORT. 

cannot  be  influenced  to  apply  themselves  in  sucli  a  man- 
ner as  to  be  greatly  benefited,  a  much  larger  number 
will  than  under  a  merely  voluntary  or  elective  system." 

Dr.  Church,  it  will  be  seen,  speaks  of  the  elective 
system,  as  if  the  uncontrolled  election  of  studies  were 
vested  in  the  student  himself.  It  has  been  sometimes 
assumed  that  the  manifest  injudiciousness  of  snch  an 
arrangement  might  be  obviated,  by  putting  the  election 
in  the  hands  of  the  parent,  instead  of  those  of  the  stu- 
dent. In  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  however,  this  regulation 
is  experimentally  proved  to  be  inoperative;  and  the 
result  Las  been  found  to  be  precisely  what  would  have 
occurred  without  it.  The  election  is  always^  in  any 
institution  which  allows  election  at  all,  in  the  parent's 
hands.  If  he  takes  the  interest  he  ought  to  take  in  his 
son's  education,  he  will  use  it  without  being  required  to 
do  so  by  any  college  law ;  if  not,  he  will  use  it  to  give 
the  sanction  of  parental  authority  to  the  student's 
choice. 

Dr.  Swain,  the  distinguished  President  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  North  Carolina,  is  no  less  decided  in  favor  of 
the  views  which  this  Report  has  presented,  than  any 
other  of  the  distinguished  authorities  already  cited. 
"  Mr.  Jefferson's  original  conception  of  the  University  of 
Virginia,"  writes  Dr.  Swain,  "  with  the  exception  that  it 
was  somewhat  in  advance  of  the  age,  was  an  admirable 
one.  His  design  was  to  establish  a  system  of  schools, 
in  which  young  men  who  had  completed  the  usual 
course  of  scholastic  training,  might  have  an  opportunity 
to  review  all  their  studies,  and  push  their  researches  in 


REPORT.  91 

every  brancli  of  literature  and  science  to  a  greater 
extent  than  was  practicable  elsewhere.  Experience  has 
shown,  that  there  is  too  little  wealth  and  too  little 
learned  leisure  in  the  country  to  afford  the  requisite 
patronage  to  an  institution  of  so  high  a  grade.  There 
may  be,  by  the  close  of  the  present  century,  but  there 
is  not  now.  Instead  of  scholars  resorting  to  that  insti- 
tution to  enlarge  their  attainments  in  philology  and  the 
severer  sciences,  young  men  imperfectly  acquainted 
with  Webster's  spelling-book  press  there,  to  enter  upon 
the  elements  of  arithmetic  and  English  grammar.  A 
few,  and  but  a  small  proportion,  go  with  better  prepar- 
ation and  more  extended  views,  become  candidates  for 
degrees,  and  make  valuable  attainments.  The  Univer- 
sity has  unquestionably  rendered  eminent  service  to  the 
country,  by  training  a  few  ripe  scholars ;  but  whether 
the  good  is  not  counterbalanced  by  the  evil  inflicted,  in 
sending  forth  a  multitude  of  sciolists  bedizened  with 
her  livery,  is  an  inquiry  entitled  to  more  consideration 
than  it  has  received.  The  success  of  the  institution  in 
securing  patronage,  is  not  unfrequently  over-estimated. 
With  all  the  advantages  of  prestige  attached  to  the 
names  of  Jefferson  and  Virginia,  with  an  ample  endow- 
ment, an  able  Faculty,  in  the  midst  of  a  numerous  popu- 
lation and  great  wealth,  a  comparison  of  catalogues 
during  the  last  twenty  years  will  probably  satisfy  you 
that  the  number  of  undergraduates  proper  has  not  been 
greater  there  than  here.  It  is  the  schools  of  law  and 
medicine,  which  have  given  the  great  prominence  in 
numbers,  and  not  the  regular  academic  corps." 


92  E  E  P  0  K  T  . 

And,  in  regard  to  what  is  said  of  the  demand  for 
"practical  education,"  Dr.  Swain  observes, — "In  my 
judgment,  no  system  of  education  can  claim  to  be  prac- 
tical, in  this  country  and  at  the  present  age  of  the 
world,  of  which  thorough  instruction  in  the  learned 
languages  and  the  mathematics  does  not  constitute  the 
substratum.  You  may  add  any  amount  of  attainment 
in  modern  languages  and  natural  and  experimental  sci- 
ence, that  increasing  wealth  and  leisure  may  permit ; 
but  the  former  can  never  be  disjDensed  with." 

In  fine,  the  President  of  our  own  University,  after 
patiently  and  laboriously  looking  into  all  this  subject, 
only  two  or  three  years  ago,  at  the  request  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees,  announces  the  conclusion  to  which  the 
investigation  has  driven  him,  in  the  following  passages 
of  his  report :  "  It  is  obvious  that,  while  experiments 
among  the  colleges,  for  meeting  the  public  demand, 
have  been  innumerable,  the  new  system  (as  it  is  called) 
has  not  generally  secured  the  approbation  of  educators." 
"Voluntariness  in  the  selection  of  studies  cannot  be 
complete  and  absolute  under  any  system."  "Those 
[colleges]  which  aim  at  specific  adaptation  to  the  busi- 
ness of  life  in  the  courses  of  study,  and  lay  claim  to  the 
greatest  voluntariness  and  the  nearest  approximation  to 
the  wants  of  the  age,  and  accommodation  to  the  indi- 
vidual, are  obliged,  practically^  to  admit  that  a  specific 
education,  without  the  main  features  of  the  old  college 
course,  is  necessarily  one-sided  and  imperfect."  "  The 
'  partial  course,'  which  does  not  lead  to  a  degree,  is  an 
acknowledged  failure    everywhere,    not  much  sought, 


K  E  P  O  R  T  .  93 

and  attended  with  but  little  satisfaction  to  any  party. 
The  creation  of  a  new  degree  which  may  be  reached 
without  classical  attainments,  and  the  separation  of  old 
degrees  so  as  to  admit  of  less  classical  study  in  some 
cases  than  formerly,  are  expedients  intended  to  apply 
the  stimulus  of  collegiate  honors  without  the  aid  of  the 
inspiration  drawn  from  classic  fountains.  As  experi- 
ments, they  are  too  recent  and  too  limited  to  show  the 
effect  on  members  or  mental  culture."  And  finally: 
"  As  an  expedient  for  increasing  numbers  in  this  insti- 
tution (extending  its  benefits  to  a  greater  number  of 
the  citizens  of  the  State)  a  change  of  organization  is 
deemed  questionable.  ^  ^  ^  The  statistics  in  this 
report  have  already  furnished  proof  of  the  fact  that 
efforts  of  this  kind,  intended  to  j^opidarize  institutions, 
have  not  replenished  them ;  that  costly  arrangements, 
adapted  both  to  general  and  individual  wants,  have 
attracted  but  a  scanty  increase;  while,  in  a  noted 
instance,  the  fullest  classes  have  been  those  of  the  old 
college  system." 

That  the  weight  of  authority,  no  less  than  the  deduc- 
tions of  reason,  is  entirely  opposed  to  the  expediency  of 
a  change  in  the  college  system  of  the  country  so  radical 
as  is  proposed  for  this  University,  cannot,  therefore,  be 
questioned.  Yet  that  the  system  admits  of  improve- 
ment, its  friends  have  nowhere  attempted  to  deny. 
The  great  burthen  of  studies  which  at  present  presses 
on  the  course,  the  evil  of  which  Dr.  Wayland  has  so 
ably  exhibited,  ought  in  some  manner  to  be  disposed  of. 
We  must  come  back  to  the  simple  idea  of  the  original 


94:  REPORT. 

college,  and  endeavor  to  restrict  these  institutions  to 
tlie  discharge   of  their  proper  function  of  education; 
leaving  mainly  to  special  institutions    connected  with 
colleges,  as  suggested  in  the  letter  of  Dr.  Walker,  or 
separate   from   them,  the  business  of  supplying  facts, 
information,  knowledge  for  its  uses — that  is  to  say,  all 
instruction  designed  simply  as  such.     Bishop  Potter,  in 
his  remarks  at  the  close  of  the  debate  on  college  sys- 
tems at  the  Cleveland  convention,  indicates  what  to  the 
undersigned  appears  to  be  the  course  which  true  wis- 
dom  would    dictate.      "Were   the   speaker,"   he    said, 
'^  called  to  reconstruct  the  course  of  studies  in  colleges, 
his  motto  would  be  midtum^  non  multa.     He  would 
greatly  diminish  the  number  of  studies  which  all  must 
pursue.     These  he  would  have  taught  for  a  much  lon- 
ger time,  much  more  thoroughly,  and  in  a  more  scholar- 
like way.     Certain  other  branches,  such  as  Natural  His- 
tory, &c.,  he  would  malte  accessible  to  all,  through  the 
ablest  and  most  brilliant  professors,  delivering  short 
courses  of  lectures  on  the  rudiments.     Other  branches 
he  would  reserve  for  those  who  had  special  qualifica- 
tions, who  would  pursue  them  eagerly  and  spontane- 
ously."    The  idea  of  Prof.  Potter,  in  regard  to  the  lec- 
tures on  special  subjects,  above  hinted  at,  is  that  the 
most  eminent  professors  in  these  branches  might  lec- 
ture, by  arrangement,  in  many  colleges  to  which  they 
are  not  specially  attached ;  his  impression  (a  veiy  just 
one)  being,  as  he  expresses  it  in  a  letter,  that,  "  to  a 
young  man  who  has  reo.ched  the  last  year  of  his  college 
life  one  month  of  intercourse  with  a  great  master  in 


K  E  P  O  K  T  .  95 

any  brancli,  is  worth  more,  in  the  way  of  permanent 
incitement  and  impulse,   than  many  months  of  study 
with  an  inferior  teacher."     But  leaving  this  topic  aside, 
it  is  evident  that  the  plan  which  he  suggests  for  the 
relief  of  colleges  under  the  oppressive  weight  of  the 
great  mass  of  matter  which  they  attempt  to  teach,  is 
the  only  true  one,  the  only  one  from  which  relief  can 
come.     The  sole  alternative  is  to  lengthen  the  period  of 
collegiate  training  and  instruction — an  alternative  to 
which,  evidently,  the  people  will  not  submit.     If,  in  the 
progress  of  time,  it  shall  become  possible  so  to  elevate 
the  requisitions  for  admission  into  college,  as  to  throw 
back  much  of  the  elementary  training  upon  the  prepar- 
atory schools,  and  if  these  schools,  in  this  country,  shall 
ever  be  brought  up  to  the  grade  of  the  German  gym- 
nasia, or  anywhere  near  it,  then  indeed  we  may  reason- 
ably hope  to  teach  in  our  colleges,  and  teach  well,  all 
which  we  now  attempt  to  teach,  and  it  is  to  be  feared 
too  often  teach  ill.     That  state  of  things  can  only  super- 
vene  by  degrees,  and   can  only  be   a   reality  in   the 
distant  future.     It  is  our  business  to  legislate  for  the 
present. 

In  regard  to  our  own  University,  in  case  a  reorgan- 
ization of  the  plan  of  instruction  be  resolved  on,  the 
following,  in  the  opinion  of  the  undersigned,  are  the 
principles  according  to  which  it  should  be  regulated : — 

1.  To  prescribe  a  definite  curriculum  of  study, 
designed  as  a  mental  discipline,  to  extend  over  the 
entire  four  years,  and  to  which  all  regular  candidates 
for  graduation  are  to  be  required  to  conform.     In  this. 


96  REPORT. 

however,  to  include  only  those  branches  of  study,  or 
certainly  very  few  but  those,  which,  by  the  consent  of 
the  learned  of  all  ages,  are  entitled  to  be  regarded  as 
the  best  instruments  for  evolving  and  exercising  the 
powers  of  the  mind. 

2.  To  embrace  all  the  remaining  studies  of  the 
course,  which  are  thus  thrown  out,  in  a  group,  out  of 
which  the  Faculty  may,  at  the  proper  time,  select  such 
as  seem  fittest  to  the  intellectual  wants  of  each  indi- 
vidual student,  as  ascertained  by  the  observation  of  his 
tastes,  mental  habits,  and  actual  attainments  during  the 
earlier  years  of  study ;  and  to  provide  for  his  instruc- 
tion in  these,  without  exacting  from  him,  as  at  present, 
attention  to  the  whole  number. 

In  the  application  of  these  principles,  it  seems  to  the 
undersigned  advisable  that,  during  the  first  two  years 
of  the  course,  no  study  should  be  introduced  which  is 
not  obligatory  upon  all  the  students.  The  present 
arrangement  of  the  hours  at  which  the  daily  exercises 
occur,  need  not  therefore  of  necessity  be  interfered 
with.  Whether  or  not  that  is  the  best  arrangement, 
the  undersigned  do  not  undertake  to  pronounce  ;  but  at 
present  they  see  no  reason  to  recommend  any  alteration 
in  this  respect,  in  regard  to  this  part  of  the  course. 
Should,  however,  any  portion  of  the  studies  of  the 
junior  and  senior  year,  or  of  either,  be  made  elective, 
it  will  probably  be  found  convenient  to  assign  recita- 
tions or  lectures  for  these  classes  in  some  branches  at 
other  hours,  additional  to  those  fixed  by  the  present 
regulations,  and  without  disturbing  the  latter.     What 


REPORT.  97 

particular  distribution  of  time  may  be  best  adapted  to 
secure  all  the  ends  aimed  at  by  this  new  system  of 
instruction,  it  will  perhaps  be  best  to  leave  to  the  more 
mature  deliberation  of  the  Faculty.  A  table  of  exer- 
cises, or  roster^  herewith  submitted,  may  be  regarded 
as  simply  in  the  light  of  a  suggestion  for  the  purpose 
of  inviting  amendment,  than  as  a  positive  recom- 
mendation. 

Should  a  reorganization  of  the  plan  of  instruction 
on  these  principles  be  resolved  upon,  it  becomes  im- 
portant to  decide  what  studies  shall  be  placed  in  the 
elective  group.  To  this  class,  it  appears  to  the  under- 
signed, that  there  can  be  no  hesitation  in  referring, — 

1st.  All  such  as  deal  principally  in  facts  of  observa- 
tion; 

2d.  Such  as  require  a  peculiar  natural  aptitude  for 
their  successful  prosecution  ;  and 

3d.  The  study  of  the  languages,  ancient  or  modern, 
pursued  beyond  the  limit  prescribed  by  the  obligatory 
course. 

Under  the  first  head  may  be  included  all  the 
branches  of  natural  history,  and  also  geology, 
mineralogy,  physiology,  meteorology,  and,  possibly,  a 
second  course  of  chemistry. 

Under  the  second  may  be  embraced  all  the 
branches  of  the  mathematics  which  rest  upon  the 
algebraic,  or  symbolic,  method  (elementary  algebra 
excepted),  and  embracing  in  the  existing  course, 
algebra    applied    to    geometry,   analytical    geometry, 

7 


98  K  E  P  O  K  T  . 

and  tlie  calculus,  differential  and  integral;    to  wliicli 
may  Le  added  spherical  trigonometry. 

The  third  requires  no  specifications. 

The  undersigned  design  to  enter  into  no  argument 
as  to  the  propriety  of  the  distinctions  which  they  have 
thus  made  between  the  subjects  now  overloading  the 
curriculum  of  college  study.  Since  it  is  an  admitted 
fact  that  no  student  can  possibly  now  be  thorough  in 
all  of  them,  limited  as  he  is  to  the  very  few  weeks 
which  can  only  be  given  to  each,  according  to  present 
arrangements,  it  can  be  no  serious  objection  to  the  pro- 
posed plan  to  say,  that  it  must  necessarily  cut  off  every 
student  from  something.  That  is  very  true ;  but  it  is 
equally  true  that  the  entirely  voluntary  system  permits 
him  to  do  the  same  for  himself;  and  what  is  more, 
makes  it  nearly  certain  that  he  will  do  it,  while  it  fails 
to  guaranty  to  him  a  systematic  intellectual  training  at 
all. 

The  studies  which  will  remain  obligatory  upon 
every  individual,  after  those  above  specified  are  ex- 
cluded from  the  regular  course,  are  such  as  are 
universally  regarded  as  furnishing  the  best  discipline 
of  the  mind  and  the  most  equable  exercise  of  the 
various  faculties ;  and  such  as,  at  the  same  time,  by  a 
consent  almost  universal,  and  quite  so  if  we  except  the 
learned  languages  from  the  list,  are  esteemed  as  being 
in  themselves  attainments  absolutely  indispensable  to 
every  man  of  education.  Moreover,  in  regard  to  the 
learned  languages,  it  has  already  been  shown,  that  the 
dissent  just  hinted  at,  is  actually  more  imaginary  than 


REPORT.  99 

real,  that  it  is  limited  to  a  very  small  number  of  per- 
sons, and  that  in  this  number  we  find  hardly  a  single 
name  of  any  authority  either  in  the  great  field  of 
education,  or  in  the  world  of  letters. 

By  the  adoption,  then,  of  a  system  of  instruction 
founded  on  the  principles  above  stated,  and  in  its  prac- 
tical application  securing,  instruction,  in  any  of  the 
branches  of  knowledge  which  usually  form  a  part  of 
every  collegiate  course,  to  those  and  those  only  who  are 
likely  to  derive  positive  profit  from  their  study,  while 
all  are  equally  subjected  to  that  thorough  education  of 
the  mind  which  it  is  the  proper  business  as  it  was  the 
original  design  of  the  college  to  bestow,  it  appears  to 
the  undersigned  that  whatever  is  objectionable  in  the 
existing  system  may  be  eliminated,  without  putting  at 
hazard  the  sound  prosperity  of  the  institution  by 
changes  unnecessarily  large  and  startling,  and  which, 
whatever  confidence  in  their  wisdom  their  immediate 
advocates  and  friends  may  entertain,  are  certainly 
regarded  with  anxious  distrust  by  a  large  proportion  of 
our  most  judicious  and  thoughtful  fellow-citizens. 

If  along  with  the  change  here  proposed,  some  atten- 
tion be  paid  to  certain  matters  of  detail,  in  regard  to 
which  amendment  appears  to  be  possible,  the  efficiency 
of  the  whole  system,  in  the  opinion  of  the  undersigned, 
cannot  fail  to  be  materially  improved.  The  honors  and 
distinctions  now  awarded  by  the  University,  depend  on 
a  method  of  estimating  scholarship  by  giving  a  nu- 
merical value  to  every  performance,  and  preserving  a 
record  of  every  exercise  corresponding  to  its  adjudged 


100  R  E  P  O  K  T  . 

merit.  To  the  undersigned  tliis  method  appears  to  be 
faulty  in  two  particulars :  first,  it  is  a  departure  from 
the  sound  principle  on  which  the  prerogative  of  grant- 
ing degrees  was  designed  to  be  exercised  by  univer- 
sities—and that  is,  that  none  should  be  admitted  to  the 
honor  but  such  as  should  be  found,  by  thorough  trial, 
to  be  actually  possessed  of  the  required  attainments  at 
the  time  of  receiving  the  degree ;  and  secondly,  it  does 
nothing  to  stimulate,  and  in  fact  it  does  sometimes 
appear  to  deaden,  that  honorable  pride  of  scholarship, 
which,  to  the  generous  youth,  is  one  of  the  most  power- 
ful incitements  to  intellectual  effort. 

In  regard  to  the  first  particular,  it  may  be  said  that 
the  present  marking  system  tends  to  induce  a  habit  of 
"  studying  up  "  or  "  cramming  "  for  the  immediate  reci- 
tation, without  regard  to  such  a  thorough  understanding 
of  the  subject,  as  shall  fix  it  permanently  in  the  mind. 
And  to  this  may  be  added,  that,  by  making  the  recita- 
tion of  the  day  or  of  the  hour  the  all-important  object, 
its  influence  is  to  interfere  with  the  formation  of  com- 
prehensive or  connected  views  of  a  subject  of  study  as 
a  whole,  or  the  mutual  dependency  of  its  parts  upon 
each  other,  but  to  present  it  rather  as  a  succession  of 
detached  and  independent  doses  of  knowledge,  each  to 
be  taken  by  itself,  without  regard  to  what  precedes  or 
follows.     The  consequence  is,  that  by  the  aid  of  a  toler- 
able memory,  a  plausible  display  may  be  made  at  the 
moment  of  recitation,  when,  a  few  weeks  after,  it  would 
be  difficult  for  the  student  to  recall  any  part  of  what  he 
had  so  glibly  retailed  at  first.     Nor  is  this  absolutely 


K  E  P  O  K  T  .  101 

the  worst  consequence  wliicli,  in  some  instances,  pro- 
ceeds from  tlie  same  cause.  Artifices  are  often  devised 
by  students  averse  to  labor,  by  whicli  to  make  a  false 
exhibit  of  knowledge,  and  thus  secure  from  the  teacher 
a  high  estimate  for  a  performance  which  possesses  no 
merit  at  all.  Concealed  papers,  interlined  books,  aid 
secretly  obtained  at  the  moment  of  recitation  by  the 
prompting  of  a  fellow-student,  exercises  and  composi- 
tions plagiarized  from  books,  problems  and  demon- 
strations obtained  from  better  scholars,  and  many 
similar  expedients,  enable  a  student  often  to  secure  an 
apparently  high  grade  of  scholarship  upon  the  record, 
when  at  the  same  time,  his  real  attainments  are  very 
low.  These  evils,  which  seem  in  both  cases  to  be  con- 
sequences which  the  system  directly  encourages,  may,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  undersigned,  be  both  of  them  re- 
moved by  a  slight  alteration  of  the  mode  of  determ- 
ining grade  in  scholarship.  Let  this  depend  to  a 
degree  almost  exclusive  of  any  other  test,  upon  the  peri- 
odical and  final  examinations,  and  very  little,  if  at  all, 
upon  the  record  of  daily  recitation.  It  is  important 
that  such  a  record  should  still  be  kept,  that  uniformity 
of  attention  to  study  may  be  secured,  and  that  the 
negligent  and  grossly  deficient  may  be  admonished,  or 
required  to  withdraw ;  but  in  the  valuation  of  substan- 
tial scholarship,  let  thorough  examination  be  the  prin- 
cipal as  it  is  the  only  sure  test  of  merit.  If,  also,  to 
this  be  added  the  suflPrages  of  the  students  themselves, 
in  regard  to  the  comparative  rank  of  their  classmates  in 
literary  and  scientific  attainments,  as  at  Yale  College, 


102  REPORT. 

and  as  suggested  by  Sir  William  Hamilton,  in  his  ideal 
of  "  Oxford  as  it  might  be,"  we  should  offer  to  youth 
one  of  the  highest  inducements  that  could  be  offered  to 
lead  them  to  covet  a  reputation  with  their  fellow-stu- 
dents, who  know  them  thoroughly,  for  genuine  scholar- 
ship, instead  of  striving,  as  now,  to  secure  on  the  books 
of  the  Faculty  a  record  of  merit,  founded  on  a  basis,  at 
the  least  illusive,  if  not  fraudulent. 

The  habit  of  looking  to  a  distant,  and  not  to  an  im- 
mediate responsibility,  will  secure  more  earnest  study, 
and  a  more  sincere  desire  and  determination  to  under- 
stand principles,  rather  than  commit  to  the  memory, 
facts.  It  will,  moreover,  be  attended  with  the  knowl- 
edge and  conviction  that  the  responsibility  is  a  real  one, 
which  (if  the  examinations  are  properly  conducted)  no 
art  can  evade,  and  for  which  there  must  be  a  substan- 
tial and  real  preparation. 

In  order  effectually  to  secure  these  ends,  it  may  be 
deemed  desirable  to  give  to  the  examinations  a  greater 
duration  than  at  present,  and  for  this  purpose  to  throw 
all  the  three  term  examinations  together  at  the  end  of 
the  year ;  which  will  provide  for  an  annual  examination 
of  three  weeks — a  duration  which  might,  perhaps,  be 
profitably  extended  to  a  month.  And  in  addition  to 
this,  a  biennial  examination  might  be  held,  as  at  Yale 
College,  and  a  final  one  at  the  end  of  the  four  years,  at 
which  the  classes  should  be  examined  upon  all  the 
studies  they  had  pursued  from  the  beginning  up  to 
that  time.  This  would  make  the  distant  responsibility 
a  reality  so  serious  as  to  necessitate  the  attainment  of 


REPORT.  103 

genuine,  instead  of  seeming  scholarsliip,  and  would 
remove  tlie  temptations  whicli  now  exist,  to  fall  into 
habits  of  systematic  evasion  of  study. 

Tliere  remains  one  other  particular,  in  regard  to 
which  a  change  appears  to  be  desirable.  According  to 
the  rules  at  present  existing  in  this  University,  if  a  stu- 
dent fails  in  the  performance  of  any  particular  exercise, 
on  account  of  sickness,  or  other  sufficient  excuse,  he  is 
permitted  to  prepare  and  perform  this  exercise  by  him- 
self separately,  and  is  entitled  to  receive  credit  for  the 
performance,  precisely  as  if  it  had  been  accomplished  in 
its  due  season.  Should  the  principle  of  estimating  schol- 
arship according  to  the  recorded  marks  of  the  term 
exercises  be  abandoned,  then  this  regulation,  as  depend- 
ent on  it,  may  as  well  be  abandoned  likewise.  But  if 
otherwise,  it  is  still  to  be  desired  that  this,  as  the  under- 
signed believe,  worse  than  useless  rule,  should  be  dis- 
pensed with  by  itself.  In  the  first  place,  the  student 
ought  to  be  habituated  in  college,  to  contemplate  the 
stern  truth  that  men's  misfortunes  will  never  be  accepted 
in  life,  as  a  reason  why  their  competitors  should  pause 
and  wait  for  them,  or  should  offer  them  a  second  trial, 
in  the  race  for  the  world's  distinctions.  By  sickness,  or 
other  misfortune,  the  student  loses  the  benefit  of  a  per- 
formance which  might  have  counted  in  his  favor.  Be  it 
so — let  him  accept  the  loss  like  a  man.  Another  day 
it  may  befall  his  rival.  And  it  is  well  to  learn,  by 
small  mishaps  like  these,  to  bear  those  greater  ills  which 
may  lie  before  us  in  the  world's  ceaseless  struggle, 
where  the  race  too  often  is  to  the  swift,  and  the  bat- 


104  REPORT. 

tie  to  tlie  strong.  More  than  this,  it  is  well  to  culti- 
vate that  energetic  spirit  which  scorns  to  droop  at  every 
trivial  pain,  or  to  relax  effort  at  every  insignificant  dis- 
couragement ;  but  which  presses  steadily  onward  to  its 
purpose,  with  a  perseverance  which  never  flags  while 
progress  is  a  possibility. 

With  these  suggestions,  the  undersigned  conclude 
what  they  have  to  say  in  regard  to  the  important  sub- 
ject now  pending  before  the  Faculty  and  the  Board  of 
Trustees.  At  the  time  of  their  appointment,  they  had 
not  contemplated  any  further  action  than  a  simple  com- 
pliance with  the  request  contained  in  the  communica- 
tion of  the  Board,  accompanied,  perhajDs,  by  a  mere 
programme  of  such  a  scheme  as  they  have  endeavored 
to  describe  in  this  Report,  for  comparison  with  that 
which  had  been  specifically  called  for.  Any  very  rad- 
ical change  in  a  system  of  instruction  so  generally  ap- 
proved as  that  which  has  long  existed  here,  they  had 
not  regarded  as  a  possibility.  A  growing  conviction, 
however,  that  the  cause  of  sound  education  in  Alabama 
is  more  seriously  in  danger  than  they  had  supposed,  has 
constrained  them,  under  the  pressure  of  a  deep  sense  of 
duty,  to  present  in  full  the  reasons  which  Jead  them  to 
deprecate  the  introduction  here  of  an  educational  system 
which  a  majority  of  our  wisest  men  regard  with  distrust, 
and  which  has  never  been  more  than  doubtfully  suc- 
cessful in  any  college  which  has  tried  it  in  the  United 

States.  • 

F.  A.  P.  BARNARD, 

JNO.  W.  PRATT. 

University  of  Alabama^  Sept  18,  1854. 


LETTERS 


o^ 


COLLEGE  GOVERNMENT, 


AND    THE    hVlL'H    INSEl'ARABLK    FROM 


I  ■ 


I 


IN    ITS    PRESENT    FORM: 


ORIGINALLY     ADDRESSED    TO     HON.    A.    B.    MEEK,     ONE     OF    THE     EDITORS     OF 

THE    MOBILE    REGISTER. 


BY 


FREDERICK  A.   P.   BARNARD,   M.  A., 

LATE    PROl'KSSOn    OF    CHEMISTRY    AND    NATURAL    HISTORY 
IN   THE   UNIVERSITY    OF   ALABAMA. 


NEW    YORK: 
D.    AITLETON    &    CO.,    346    AND    348    BROADWAY 

18  5  5. 


CONTENTS. 


■  <i^i>  I 


LETTEE    I. 

Page. 
Strictures  of  the  "Mobile  Register,"  on  certain  regulations  and  usages  exist- 
ing in  the  University  of  Alabama,  considered. — Examination  of  the  law 
known  as  "  the  exculpation  law." 7 


LETTEK    II. 

Reasons  why  "the  exculpation  law"  has  proved  a  failure. — Inquiry  how  far 
it  should  be  deemed  hishonorable  for  one  student  to  give  testimony  im- 
plicating another, 17 


LETTEE    III. 

Objection  to  the  moral  tendencies  of  "the  exculpation  law,"  considered. — 
Substantial  benefits  derived  from  the  existence  of  laws  to  compel  the  dis- 
closure of  truth, 26 


\ 


V 


LETTEE    lY 


Difficulty  of  the  position  of  College  officers  as  governors. — Personal  qualities 
essential  to  their  success. — Principles  of  action  by  which  they  should  be 
guided, 35 


LETTEE    y. 

The  American  College  system  mainly  dependent  for  its  successful  operation 
upon  the  personal  qualities  of  disposition  and  temperament  of  the  men 
who  conduct  it. — Insecurity  arising  from  this  cause. — Enumeration  of  the 
most  essential  of  the  moral  qualities  which  the  college  officer  should  pos- 


CONTENTS. 

LETTEK    YI. 

w  Page. 

Objections  of  the  "  Register  "  to  the  daily  visitation  of  rooms,  considered. — 

Design  of  this  visitation. — Reasons  for  maintaining  the  usage. — Social 

intercourse  between  officers  and  students  ought  to  be  cultivated,     i-^    .  51 


LETTEK    YII. 

No  vindication  of  the  existing  system  of  college  government  can  be  univer- 
sally satis^ctory ;  because,  first,  no  system  can  be  equally  suited  to  stu- 
dents of  every  age ;  and,  secondly,  the  popular  idea  of  the  college  student 
is  drawn  from  the  class  who  need  least  to  be  governed,    .         .         .         .57 


LETTER    YIII. 

American  colleges  assume  too  great  a  responsibility. — The  college  system  of 
this  country,  considered  as  a  system  of  moral  training,  is  a  failure. — Is 
there  any  remedy  ? 04 

LETTER    IX. 

Evils  of  residence  in  dormitories. — Synopsis  of  Dr.  AVayland's  views  on  this 
subject,    .............  72 


LETTER    X. 

Evils  of  the  dormitory  system  further  examined. — Its  tendency  to  make  the 
intellectual  qualifications  of  instructors  a  secondary  consideration. — Is  it 
possible  to  abolish  the  system  ?        .         . ^0 

LETTER    XI. 

Experiment  proposed  for  the  University  of  Alabama. — Consideration  which 
seems  to  have  determined  the  choice  of  location  for  most  of  the  colleges 
of  the  United  States.— Its  fallacy.— The  dormitory  system  will  be  aban- 
doned ;  but  only  very  gradually, 88 


LETTER    XII. 

Positive  advantages  of  large  towns  as  sites  for  seminaries  of  learning. — Con- 
clusion,     5^6 


INTRODUCTORY. 


»'»•  • 


The  letters  embraced  in  the  following  pages  are  republished,  in  compli- 
ance with  numerous  solicitations  from  sources  entitled  to  respect.  It  may 
serve  to  explain  the  somewhat  desultory  manner  in  which  the  topics  which 
they  touch  are  treated,  to  say  that  they  were  originally  designed  for  the  col- 
umns of  a  daily  newspaper,  and  that  they  were  expected  to  enjoy  only  the 
ephemeral  existence  which  such  a  channel  of  publication  could  secure.  In 
reproducing  them  here,  it  might,  no  doubt,  have  been  possible  to  subject 
them  to  a  process  of  reconstruction,  by  which  whatever  they  may  contain  of 
general  interest  might  have  been  more  happily  presented  ;  while  superflui- 
ties might,  at  the  same  time,  have  been  retrenched,  repetitions  avoided,  and 
all  that  is  of  merely  local  application,  suppressed  entirely.  But  this,  by  the 
pressure  of  more  important  occupations,  has  been  rendered  impracticable ; 
and  they  are  therefore  reprinted  with  but  very  slight  alterations  of  their  orig- 
inal form,  in  the  belief  that  their  imperfections,  though  they  may  do  little 
credit  to  the  writer,  will  not  tend  to  disparage  the  cause  which  he  advocates. 

It  is  obvious  that,  if  there  are  evils  really  inherent  in  the  existing 
system  of  college  organization,  the  correction  of  these  evils  can  hardly  be 
looked  for  until  the  public  demand  it.  So  long  as  the  people  are  content 
to  take  things  as  they  are,  so  long  as  patronage  is  bestowed  without  mis- 
giving upon  institutions  embracing,  as  do  most  of  our  colleges  at  present, 
the  features  which  it  is  the  object  of  these  letters  to  exhibit  as  objectionable, 
just  so  long,  of  course,  will  there  exist  no  urgent  motive  to  induce  those 
who  control  such  institutions  to  modify  them  in  any  manner  which  may 
involve  expense.  But  if  the  public  mind  can  be  awakened  to  the  magni- 
tude of  the  evils  inseparable  from  the  existing  college  system,  though  it  be 
so  far  only  as  to  demand  that  new  colleges  shall  be  constructed  upon  a 
wiser  plan,  and  if  the  evidence  of  the  change  of  public  sentiment  shall 

2 


6  INTKODUCTOKT. 

appear  in  the  greater  favor  shown  to  such,  then  it  is  to  be  reasonably  ex- 
pected that  others,  out  of  the  mere  instinct  of  self-preservation,  will  ulti- 
mately conform  themselves  to  the  popular  preference.  The  appeal,  there- 
fore, must  for  the  present  be  to  the  people.  In  making  such  an  appeal  in 
regard  to  an  interest  so  vast,  a  single  individual  may  well  feel  his  insignifi- 
cance. But  there  are  in  the  community  great  numbers  of  intelligent  men 
who  well  know  the  evils  attendant  on  the  present  college  system ;  men 
who,  having  been  educated  in  colleges,  have  seen  and  felt  them,  but  have 
perhaps  hardly  considered  the  question  how  far  they  are  capable  of  removal ; 
and  from  among  such  men,  if  their  attention  can  be  drawn  to  the  subject, 
the  isolated  advocate  of  reform  may  reasonably  hope  that  many  will  be- 
come his  hearty  cooperators  in  the  endeavor  to  impress  the  public  mind. 
Were  it  not  for  the  existence  of  such  a  class,  and  for  the  fact  that  they  are 
far  more  influential  than  any  other  in  proportion  to  their  numbers,  the 
writer  of  these  pages  would  be  disposed  to  regard  the  idea  of  a  possible 
reform  of  the  prevailing  college  system  as  chimerical  in  the  highest  degree. 
Nor  even  when  they  shall  become  fully  aroused  to  the  importance  of  the 
change,  if  that  shall  ever  be,  and  shall  lend  their  united  efi"orts  to  bring  it 
to  pass,  is  it  to  be  expected  that  the  object  can  be  very  quickly  accom- 
plished. So  large  are  the  pecuniary  interests  involved,  that  the  disposition 
to  change  may  not  always  be  accompanied  by  the  immediate  power ;  and 
an  evil  system  may,  in  many  cases,  be  perpetuated  for  years,  for  no  reason 
but  the  mere  inability  to  abandon  it.  '  Still,  though  the  benefits  of  the  de- 
sired reform  should  be  reserved  for  the  next,  or  even  for  a  distant,  genera- 
tion, its  advocates  should  strive  none  the  less  earnestly  to  demonstrate  its 
necessity;  since  it  is  only  the  faithfulness  of  their  present  eff"ort3  which 
renders  even  that  distant  good  a  possibility. 

It  may  be  observed  of  these  letters,  that,  though  accident  may  be  said 
to  have  determined  the  time  of  their  appearance,  and  though  they  were 
w^'itten  without  any  distinctly  premeditated  jjlan,  yet  in  substance  they 
embrace  the  convictions  of  some  years  of  experience  and  reflection ;  and  the 
writer  avails  himself  of  this  opportunity  to  acknowledge  that  his  attention 
was  first  drawn  strongly  to  the  subject  by  the  valuable  little  work  of  Dr. 
AVayland,  to  which  he  has  taken  occasion  repeatedly  to  refer. 

University  of  Mississippi^  Dec.  16,  1854. 


J 


LETTERS  m  COLLEGE  GOYERNME^^T. 


LETTER     I. 

STRICTURES      OF     THE     MOBILE     REGISTER,     ON     CERTA.IN     REGULATIONS     AND 

USAGES     EXISTING     IN     THE     UNIVERSITY     OF    ALABAMA,    CONSIDERED. 

EXAMINATION    OF    THE    LAW    KNOWN    AS    "  THE    EXCULPATION    LAW." 

To  THE  Editor  of  the  Mobile  Register, — 

Sir: — In  the  Camden  Republic  of  June  24tli,  I  find 
some  remarks  credited  to  tlie  Register,  on  a  few  of  the 
features  of  college  government  recognized  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Alabama.  Your  strictures,  which  accord  very  well 
'  with  observations  I  have  often  heard  from'intelligent  gen- 
tlemen in  private  conversation,  indicate  that  there  is  a 
defect  or  a  difficulty  somewhere  in  the  American  college 
system,  to  which  it  is  desirable  that  the  attention  of  the 
whole  community  should  be  understandingly  drawn.  I 
say  a  defect  in  the  system,  because  nearly  all  the  colleges 
in  the  United  States  are  founded  upon  the  same  system, 
and  the  features  to  which  exception  has  been  taken,  are 
features  which  have  been  adopted  in  each,  without  change, 
from  those  which  are  older.  The  visitation  of  the  rooms 
of  students,  by  members  of  the  Faculty,  which  is  spoken 


8  LETTERSON 

of  in  your  article  as  "  the  plan  pursued  by  the  Faculty  of 
our  University^''  is  practiced  in  every  college  in  the  coun- 
try, in  whicli  students  reside  in  the  college  buildings — 
that  is  to  say,  in  every  one  in  which  it  is  practicable.  If 
it  is  a  bad  plan,  the  extent  of  its  prevalence  does  not,  I 
freely  admit,  make  it  any  better ;  but  the  fact  that  it  is  so 
prevalent,  may  not  be  known  to  all  the  readers  of  the 
Register ;  and  for  this  reason  an  inference  to  our  especial 
prejudice  (which  I  am  sure  you  did  not  design)  may  be 
drawn  from  your  remarks. 

Again,  "  the  plan  adopted  at  our  University,  of  put- 
ting the  student  upon  his  voir  dire^'^  is  not  peculiar  to  us, 
as  might  be  inferred  by  a  cursory  reader.  It  is  really  an 
"  adopted  "  plan,  and  the  words  of  the  law  prescribing  it 
are  a  literal  transcript  from  the  printed  laws  of  the  Col- 
lege of  South  Carolina.  This  again  makes  the  plan  no 
better,  if  it  be  true  that  it  is  intrinsically  bad.  But  it 
suggests  the  possibility  that  a  student,  however  distasteful 
lie  may  find  the  system  of  discipline  practiced  here,  cannot 
reasonably  expect  to  mend  his  position  in  this  respect  by 
resortino:  elsewhere. 

All  American  colleges  hold  their  students  amenable  to 
the  authorities  for  violations  of  good  order  and  good 
morals.  All  have  a  government  of  written  law,  and  a 
brief  and  simple  penal  code.  Yet  no  Board  of  Overseers 
or  Trustees  has  yet  been  able,  with  all  the  advantages 
derived  from  the  personal  experience  of  its  members  as 
college  students  or  college  officers,  or  from  observation  of 
the  practical  working  of  different  systems  for  more  than  a 
century,  to  devise  a  mode  of  administering  that  part  of 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT. 


college  government  whicli  relates  to  offenses,  without  em- 
bracing in  it  provisions  wbicli  have  been  sometimes  made 
a  subject  of  grave  complaint,  and  sometimes  of  unsparing- 
censure,  directed  against  tlie  governing  body. 

In  the  article  upon  which  I  am  commenting,  for  in- 
stance, it  is  urged  against  the  "  exculpation  law "  that  "  it 
is  contrary  to  natural  justice — contrary  to  Hhe  perfection 
of  reason,'  the  common  law — and  contrary  to  any  consid- 
erate method  of  moral  culture."  As  my  present  purpose 
is  not  to  vindicate  exculpation  law,  or  to  meddle  with  it 
in  any  manner,  I  shall  join  no  issue  here.  Suppose  it  be 
all  you  say  of  it,  I  wish  to  ask  you  whether  or  not  (and  I 
ask  now  for  information,  for  I  really  do  not  know)  it  is 
the  public  impression  that  the  principle  of  this  law  is  at 
the  bottom  of  our  ordinary  methods  of  proceeding  in  cases 
of  college  discipline  ?  I  ask  this  question,  because,  admit- 
ting the  principle  to  be  as  exceptionable  as  you  claim,  the 
answer  to  it  will  have  much  to  do  in  determining  how  far 
our  system  of  government  is  odious.  If  what  I  see  in  the 
public  prints  (or  have  seen  in  former  years)  may  be  as- 
sumed to  furnish  me  with  any  fair  means  of  judging,  I  am 
justified  in  thinking  that  we  are  popularly  supposed  to 
proceed  on  this  plan  every  day  or  every  week.  Now, 
the  fact  is  that  I  have  been  an  officer  of  the  University  of 
Alabama  more  than  sixteen  years ;  and  during  this  long 
period  the  offensive  law  has  been  resorted  to  only  three 
times.  The  unfrequency  of  its  actual  application  may 
serve  to  show  that  it  is  a  measure  in  its  original  design 
intended  only  for  those  extreme  cases  in  which  the  altern- 
ative is  the  annihilation  of  all  government,  and  the  tri- 


10  LETTEKSON 

umpli  of  anarchy.  Whenever  they  have  been  driven  to 
the  adoption  of  this  expedient,  the  Faculty  of  the  Univer- 
sity have  never  pnt  it  into  practice  without  a  sense  of  pain 
and  sorrow,  for  which  their  denouncers  of  the  press  or 
among  the  people  never  give  them  credit.  They  are 
charged  with  the  preservation  of  order  in  college.  They 
have  a  duty  to  execute,  and  they  are  not  the  authors  of 
the  system  they  are  required  to  administer.  When  the 
question  is  reduced  to  this — shall  law  prevail,  or  shall 
misrule  be  triumphant  and  all  the  operations  of  college 
come  to  an  end  ?  they  must  use  the  only  means  put  into 
their  hands  to  secure  the  supremacy  of  law,  whether  they 
like  them  or  not,  or  whether  or  not  the  surrounding  pub- 
lic approve.  And  this  happens,  perhaps,  once  in  many 
years;  while  the  comments  which  so  often  reach  us, 
through  our  correspondence,  through  conversations  with 
gentlemen  at  or  from  a  distance,  or  through  the  press, 
proceed  on  the  assumption  that  it  is  the  commonest  thing 
in  the  world,  and  that  very  possibly,  the  first  business  of 
the  Faculty  every  morning  after  breakfast  is,  to  put  some 
twenty  or  thirty  students  on  their  ''  "voir  direP 

I  suppose  that  no  government  is  anything  better  than 
a  name,  which  possesses  no  means  of  protecting  public 
order  by  the  compulsory  discovery  of  truth,  when  order 
has  been  violated  and  the  witnesses  are  certainly,  or  the 
offenders  approximately,  known.  There  are,  so  far  as  I 
know,  but  two  modes  of  proceeding  effectual  for  this  pur- 
pose, and  these  are — 1.  That  which  is  sanctioned  by  "the 
perfection  of  reason,  the  Common  Law,"  to  compel  the 
testimony  of  witnesses  to  the  offense;  or,   2.  The  South 


I 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  11 

Carolina  plan,  adopted  liere,  to  require  the  innocent  to  say 
that  tliey  are  innocent.  The  former  is  the  plan  of  all  the 
older  colleges  at  the  North;  and,  perhaps,  of  the  newer 
also.  The  latter  is  peculiarly  the  Southern  plan,  intro- 
duced expressly  as  a  concession  to  the  scruples  of  sensitive 
young  men.  Since,  however,  the  one  and  the  other,  when 
successfully  enforced,  result  alike  in  securing  the  ends  of 
government  in  the  detection  of  the  offender,  the  substitute 
has  proved  no  more  ]3alatable  than  the  law  which  it  re- 
placed ;  and  the  northern  plan  and  the  southern  plan  are 
equally  under  the  ban  of  popular  opinion.  In  the  mean 
time,  one  or  the  other  of  them,  from  the  stern  necessity  of 
the  case,  maintains  its  place  in  the  written  code  of  every 
college ;  and  both,  when  the  painful  necessity  arises,  con- 
tinue to  be  put  into  force,  in  spite  of  their  unpopularity 
all  over  the  country. 

If  our  friends  among  the  people,  or  if  our  friends  of 
the  press,  would  turn  their  attention  to  the  true  point  of 
difficulty,  and  would  aid  us  with  advice  how  we  may 
escape  from  our  present  embarrassment,  we  would  receive 
their  suggestions  with  gratitude ;  and  whatever  we  should 
find  in  them  adapted  to  remedy  the  evil,  we  would  ear- 
nestly recommend  to  the  consideration  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees.  To  judge  from  the  manner  in  which  we  are  often 
spoken  of,  it  would  seem  to  be  thought  that  we  delight  in 
"  exculpation "  laws,  and  that  we  are  never  more  happy 
than  when  the  college  guillotine  is  in  active  operation.  I 
am  not  using  the  language  of  hyperbole  when  I  say  this ; 
I  but  repeat  almost  literally  what  I  have  often  heard.  Is 
not  this  unreasonable  ?     Yet  our  case  is  not  an  isolated 


12  LETTEKSON 

one.  Similar  sanguinary  tastes  are  imputed  quite  as  fre- 
quently to  other  Faculties.  Can  it  be  supposed  that  the 
members  of  College  Faculties  generally — men,  be  it  consid- 
ered, who  have  been  selected  from  the  community  on  ac- 
count of  some  supposed  more  than  average  fitness  for  their 
places — can  it  be  supposed  that  they  are  as  a  class  so  far 
behind  the  rest  of  the  community,  in  their  sympathies 
with  the  young  men  for  whose  benefit  they  labor,  or  in 
their  judgments  of  what  will  most  promote  the  welfare  of 
their  pupils,  as  to  lean  from  choice  towards  measures 
which  shock  the  public  sensibilities,  and  to  require  a  pop- 
ular censorship  to  restrain  their  tyrannical  propensities  ? 

As  no  one  has  yet  suggested  to  us  what  new  substitute 
we  should  adopt,  in  case  we  consent  to  expunge  the  "  ex- 
culpation" law  from  the  college  code,  we  are  now  held  up 
to  public  odium  for  an  evil  which  w^e  did  not  create,  and 
which  we  know  not  how  to  remove.  Even  you,  Mr.  Edi- 
tor, would  not  have  us  go  backward,  and  adopt  the  com- 
mon-law principle,  which  compels  every  witness  to  his 
neighbor's  offense  to  testify  to  the  fact  or  sufl:er.  In  this 
application,  even  "  the  perfection  of  reason  "  would  strike 
you  as  an  abomination.  I  do  not  say  that  I  should  en- 
tirely agree  with  you ;  but  I  state  what  you  will  admit  to 
be  a  fact.  I  doubt  if  such  of  our  citizens  as  condemn  the 
law  of  "  exculpation,"  have  ever  set  it  beside  these  older 
laws  which  it  superseded.  For  their  information,  I  wdll 
give  an  example  of  both.  The  following  is  extracted  ver- 
batim from  the  laws  of  Yale  College : 

"  Whenever  a  student  shall  be  required  by  one  of  the 
Faculty  to  disclose  his  knowledge  concerning  any  disorder, 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  13 

offense,  or  offender,  against  a  law  of  the  college,  and  sliall 
refuse  to  make  sucli  disclosnre,  be  may  be  sent  home  or  dis- 
missed. No  student  shall  be  questioned  for  any  testimony 
he  may  give  in  regard  to  a  violation  of  a  law  of  this  col- 
lege ;  and  in  case  any  student  shall  so  question  his  fellow- 
student  to  ascertain  whether  he  hath  testified,  or  with 
intent  to  bring  into  contempt  any  student  because  he 
hath  testified,  the  student  so  acting  shall  be  deemed  to 
have  committed  an  offense,  and  may  be  proceeded  against 
by  the  Faculty,  according  to  the  aggravation  of  the 
offense,  even  to  dismission." 

While  this  was  law  in  all  American  colleges,  as  it  still 
is  at  New  Haven,  the  objection  raised  to  it  by  students 
was,  that  it  is  dishonorable  to  testify  against  a  fellow- 
student.  The  substitute  was  devised  to  obviate  this 
objection;  and  as  it  stands  in  the  code  of  the  University 
of  Alabama,  it  is  as  follows : 

"  In  ordinary  cases,  and  for  mere  college  misdemean- 
ors, no  student  shall  be  called  upon  to  give  information 
against  another ;  but  when  several  persons  are  known  to 
contain  among  them  the  guilty  person  or  persons,  that  the 
innocent  may  not  equally  suffer  with  the  guilty,  they  are 
all  liable  to  be  severally  called  up,  and  each  to  be  put 
upon  his  own  exculpation,  unless  the  magnanimity  of  the 
guilty  shall  relieve  the  Faculty  from  the  necessity  of  this 
expedient,  by  an  ingenuous  confession  of  his  or  their  own 
fault.  If  any  student,  when  thus  permitted  to  declare  his 
innocence,  shall  decline  to  exculpate  himself,  he  shall  be 
considered  as  taking  the  guilt  of  the  offense  upon  himself, 
and  encountering  all  the  consequences.     If  a  student  shall 


14  LETTEESON 

deny  tliat  he  is  guilty,  tliat  shall  be  taken  as  prima  facie 
evidence  of  his  innocence ;  but  if  it  shall  afterwards  ap- 
pear from  satisfactory  evidence  that  he  was  really  gnilty, 
he  shall  be  considered  unworthy  to  remain  in  the  Uni- 
versity." 

The  requisition  to  testify  against  a  fellow-student 
being  here  abandoned,  a  scruple  arose,  of  a  character  en- 
tirely new.  Hitherto  it  had  been  no  part  of  the  unwrit- 
ten code  of  undergraduate  law,  that  the  good  should  pro- 
tect, screen,  and  sufPer  martyrdom  for  the  bad ;  the  whole 
college  body  w^ere  not  held  bound  to  become  accessories 
after  the  fact  to  any  enormity ;  or  to  obstruct,  by  united 
and  systematic  action,  the  operations  of  law  for  its  detec- 
tion. The  popular  sentiment  in  college  favored  the  view 
that  it  is  well  that  law  shall  have  its  course — it  is  well 
that  offenders  shall  be  reached  and  dealt  with — it  is  well 
that  good  order  and  good  morals  shall  be  preserved, — but 
that  it  is  not  well  that  a  student  shall  become  an  informer 
upon  his  fellow-student.  I  say  that  this  was  the  popular 
sentiment,  because  I  know  it,  having  myself  been  educa- 
ted in  a  college  where  the  old  law  prevailed.  What  pop- 
ular sentiment  is  with  us  now  is  evidenced  in  the  fact, 
that  it  has  the  power  to  force  young  men  of  the  highest 
standing  for  morality  and  personal  rectitude  of  conduct, 
into  a  combination  for  the  defeat  of  all  inquiry,  and  for 
the  protection  of  a  few  disorderly  individuals,  whose  tur- 
bulence, both  by  night  and  by  day,  is  such  as  to  obstruct 
all  the  operations  of  the  University.  Whether  the  young 
men  in  their  scrupulous  regard  for  what  is  due  to  good 
fellowship,  are  not  beginning  to  "  put  too  fine  a  point  on 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  15 

it,"  I  shall  not  stop  here  to  inquire.  It  is  sufficient  for  me 
to  say  that  when  matters  reach  a  pass  like  this,  the  neces- 
sity that  something  should  be  done  is  crying,  and  all  the 
wisdom  of  University  Boards  has  hitherto  been  able  to 
discover  but  the  two  modes  of  proceeding  I  have  pointed 
out,  viz. — that  which  has  the  sanction  of  the  "  perfection 
of  reason,"  and  that  which  makes  every  student  liable  to 
be  called  on  for  his  own  exculpation. 

Lest  any  erroneous  inference  should  be  drawn  from 
the  tione  at  which  this  letter  is  written,  let  me  observe,  in 
conclusion,  that,  though  it  is  elicited  by  remarks  of  yours 
upon  the  late  troubles  in  the  University,  it  has  no  refer- 
ence whatever  to  them ;  and  that  the  "  exculpation  law  " 
was  not  applied  during  those  troubles.  Students  already 
under  suspension,  have,  it  is  true,  as  a  condition  of  restora- 
tion, been  required  to  make  some  disclaimers.  AVhatever 
may  be  said  or  thought  of  the  expediency  of  this  requisi- 
tion, of  which  I  say  nothing,  thus  much  is  at  least  true, 
that  to  refuse  to  make  the  disclaimers  required,  could,  at 
this  time,  operate  no  advantage  nor  secure  any  protection 
to  any  fellow-student,  since,  when  they  were  exacted,  all 
parties  were  equally  separated  from  the  University 
already. 

Now,  Mr.  Editor,  do  not  believe,  because  I  have  de- 
tained you  so  long  over  the  matter  of  this  law,  that  I  see 
nothing  in  what  seems  to  be  the  necessity  of  its  existence 
to  regret,  or  nothing  in  the  evils  which  too  usually  follow 
its  application  to  deplore.  If  you  do  so,  you  will  do  me 
great  injustice.  My  only  object  in  asking  you  to  publish 
these  remarks,  is  to  draw  the  attention  of  thinking  men  in 


16  L  E  T  T  E  R  S       O  N 

the  community  to  the  most  diiScult  point  connected  with 
the  whole  subject  of  college  discipline — the  question  how 
shall  the  supremacy  of  law  be  maintained  in  the  last  emer- 
gency, without  an  admitted  power  in  Faculties  to  use 
either  the  means  of  investigation  employed  by  civil  courts, 
or  those  gentler,  and  (as  was  once  thought  certainly)  less 
offensive  ones,  in  consideration  of  which  they  have  been 
content  to  yield  the  former. 

The  topic  which  principally  occupies  this  letter,  is  but 
one  of  several  connected  with  college  organization  and 
government,  on  which  I  have  often  wished  to  address 
some  observations  to  my  fellow-citizens.  With  your  per- 
mission, now  that  my  hand  is  in,  I  will  endeavor  to  make 
one  or  two  further,  but  I  hope  not  quite  so  formidable, 
encroachments  upon  your  space  hereafter. 

University  of  Alabama^  July  1,  1854. 


COLLEGE      G  O  VERISTME  NT.  17 


LETTER     II. 


REASONS  WHY  "  THE  EXCULPATION  LAW  "  HAS  PROVED  A  FAILURE. IN- 
QUIRY HOW  FAR  IT  SHOULD  BE  DEEMED  DISHONORABLE  FOR  ONE 
STUDENT    TO    GIVE    TESTIMONY    IMPLICATING    ANOTHER. 


In  my  last  letter  I  promised,  at  greater  leisure,  to  ex- 
amine still  further  some  of  the  particulars  in  which  the 
government  of  American  colleges  is  attended  with  dif- 
ficulties, so  great  as  to  indicate  a  fault  somewhere  inherent 
in  the  system  itself.     I  proceed  to  redeem  my  promise. 

It  is  certain  that  the  greatest  of  the  difficulties  here 
spoken  of  is  that  to  which  my  last  communication  was 
principally  devoted,  viz.  the  means  of  suppressing  distur- 
bances of  the  peace,  or  of  detecting  their  authors,  when  all 
ordinary  appeals  have  failed,  and  it  has  become  necessary 
to  invoke  the  penalties  of  the  law.  Upon  that  subject  I 
have  not  yet  completed  all  that  I  have  to  say. 

I  assumed  that  the  very  idea  of  government  implies 
the  possession  of  the  power  to  compel,  in  some  manner  or 
other,  the  disclosure  of  truth,  when  that  is  necessary  for 
the  protection  of  order,  and  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
supremacy  of  law.  I  described  the  two  modes  by  which 
it  has  been  attempted,  in  different  colleges,  to  exercise 
this  power :  the  first  being  no  other  than  that  used  in 
civil  courts,  and  the  second  being  the  mode  prescribed  in 
what  is  commonly  called  the  "exculpation  law,"  as  it 
exists  in  this  University  and  some  other  Southern  colleges. 


18  LETTERSON 

I  have  shown  that  the  second  of  these  modes  was  orig- 
inally devised  for  the  purpose  of  obviating  objections 
which  had  been  made  to  the  first.  That  it  has  completely 
failed  in  its  object,  is  rendered  obvious  by  the  frequency 
with  which  we  hear  it  denounced  in  conversation  and  in 
the  public  prints.  For  an  instance,  I  need  go  no  further 
than  to  your  own  expression  of  opinion  in  the  Kegister, 
w^hich  furnished  the  occasion  of  my  former  communication. 
But,  because  I  chose  to  demur  to  the  grounds  on  which 
you  took  exception  to  the  law,  you  must  not  understand 
me  to  regard  the  same  law  with  entire  complacency  my- 
self. By  no  means.  I  can  never  believe  that  any  laAV 
which  meets  the  disapprobation  of  the  public,  is  a  good 
law.  The  efficacy  of  law  is  not  to  be  looked  for  in  the 
pains  and  penalties  it  denounces,  so  much  as  in  the  sup- 
port and  approval  of  all  good  men.  Whatever  enactment 
fails  to  secure  these,  fails  of  the  most  essential  element  of 
moral  power.  It  matters  not  whether  it  be  intrinsically 
good  or  bad ;  it  is  enough  to  make  it  bad,  whatever  be  its 
intrinsic  excellence,  that  the  community  who  witness  its 
enforcement  regards  it  as  oj^pressive  and  wrong.  What 
more  is  necessary  to  undermine  the  efficacy  of  any  law, 
than  to  crown  with  applause  those  who  resist  its  opera- 
tions, and  to  canonize  its  victims  as  martyrs  in  a  glorious 
cause ! 

It  may  be  answered  that  no  law  can  be  intrinsically 
good,  against  which  the  voice  of  the  people  among  whom 
it  exists  is  so  emj^hatically  and  so  unanimously  pro- 
nounced. This  argument  is  certainly  plausible,  but  by  no 
means  conclusive.     The  law  of  Congress  providing  for  the 


COLLEGE      GOYEKNMENT.  19 

arrest  and  delivery  of  fugitive  slaves  is  certaiidy  a  good 
law ;  yet  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  States 
for  which  it  is  designed,  there  is  no  division  of  opinion  at 
all  as  to  its  wrongfulness.  Those  even  who  give  it  their 
support — politicians,  editors,  ministers  of  the  Gospel — even 
judges  from  the  bench — do  so  avowedly  for  no  other  rea- 
son but  because  it  is  a  law,  and  not  because  they  approve 
of  its  provisions.  It  is  plain,  then,  that  public  sentiment, 
however  decided,  and  however  unanimous,  is  not  always 
of  necessity  right ;  and  that  the  old  maxim,  vox  populi 
vox  DEI,  is  to  be  taken  with  a  large  latitude  for  error. 

I  assume,  then,  that  the  "  exculpation  law "  is  not 
necessarily  onalum  in  se^  because  the  people  do  not  like  it ; 
but  I  admit  that  the  tribunal  of  public  opinion  has  cer- 
tainly made  it  maluin  proliihitum^  to  the  extent  that  no 
college  Faculty  can  apply  it  without  being  immediately 
arraigned  at  that  bar,  as  if  they  were  the  real  oflPenders 
themselves.  It  fails,  therefore,  in  what  I  have  described 
to  be  the  most  essential  element  of  moral  power ;  it  fails 
because  the  public,  as  well  as  every  community  of  under- 
graduate students,  are  banded  against  it ;  and  because  ap- 
plause instead  of  censure  awaits  every  individual  who  sets 
it  at  defiance. 

Has  any  thing  been  gained,  then,  by  the  attempt  to 
substitute  in  colleges  a  method  of  legal  investigation  at 
variance  with  the  principles  of  the  honest  old  common 
law  ?  I  think  not ;  yet  while  making  this  admission,  I  can 
see  nothing  morally  wrong  in  the  substitute.  It  is  other- 
wise when  we  look  at  the  subject  in  the  light  of  expedi- 
ency, or  as  a  question  of  policy.    I  cannot  but  believe  that 


20  LETTERS      ON 

a  great  mistake  was  made  by  tlie  originators  of  this  inno- 
vation upon  tlie  time-honored  principles  and  practices  of 
penal  jurisprudence.     It  may  be  very  noble,  and  honora- 
ble, and  magnanimous,  and  all  that,  for  young  men  or  old 
men  to  refuse  to  give  testimony  before  any  tribunal,  the 
effect  of  which  would  be  to  expose  their  companions  or 
friends  to  unpleasant  consequences ;  but  it  appears  to  me 
that  the  court  which  claims  the  right  to  such  testimony  is 
not  called  upon  to  make  any  such  admission.     And  if  it 
does  make  such  an  admission,  in  regard  to  the  open,  hon- 
est and  straightforward  form  of  explicit  statement,  then  I 
cannot  see  how  it  has  any  right  to  claim  that  a  refusal  to 
permit  the  truth  to  be  extracted  from  the  witnesses  by 
indirection,  is  any  the  less  noble  or  honorable  or  magnani- 
mous.    Both  the  old  law  and  the  substitute  aim  to  fasten 
the  offense  upon  the  offender  by  the  force  of  testimony. 
In  the  one  case,  the  responsibility  of  this  testimony  is  con- 
fined to  a  few;  in  the  other  it  is  divided  among  a  greater 
number.     But  that  which  is  mean,  or  contemptible,  or 
wrong  in  any  individual,  is  not  the  less  so  because  a  whole 
community  shar^  in  the  taint.     A  stain  upon  the  honor  is 
not  a  thing  to  be  diluted  by  involving  in  its  foulness  the 
honor  of  many.     And  whenever  any  governing  authority 
admits  for  a  moment  that  it  is  mean,  or  that  it  is  wrong, 
for  any  individual  of  the  subject  body  to  give  such  testi- 
mony as  may  be  uecessary  to  secure  the  ends  of  good  gov- 
ernment, it  becomes  self-divested  of  the  most  efficacious 
and  almost  the  only  means  of  ensuring  the  due  observance 
of  its  laws. 

The  principle  that  no  student  may,  in  any  case  ivliat 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  21 

evei\  without  dislionor,  give  testimony  to  convict  a  fellow- 
student  of  a  violation  of  college  law,  is  at  once  mischiev- 
ous and  wrong ;  and  one  which  the  trustees  and  Faculties 
of  colleges  should  be  the  very  last  to  admit.  No  matter 
to  what  extent  jDublic  sentiment  may  lend  its  sanction  to 
this  principle,  the  governors  of  colleges  should  set  their 
faces  resolutely  against  such  a  sentiment,  and  should  en- 
deavor, by  all  the  means  in  their  power,  to  correct  it. 
Least  of  all  should  they  allow  themselves  to  be  borne 
along  with  it,  or  commit  an  act  so  suicidal  as  to  stamp 
with  their  own  openly  expressed  approbation,  a  principle 
which  denies  to  them  a  right  absolutely  vital  to  the  ad- 
ministration of  any  government. 

It  is  my  candid  opinion  that  our  colleges  have  them- 
selves chiefly  to  thank,  for  the  extent  to  which  their 
powers  of  government  are  j)aralyzed  by  the  influence  of 
surrounding  public  opinion.  Till  they,  in  so  many  words, 
relinquished  the  right  to  compel  the  witnesses  to  any 
flagrant  offense  to  declare  their  knowledge,  public  senti- 
ment did  not  so  universally,  so  unanimously,  or  so  sweep- 
ingly  stigmatize  the  act  of  giving  such  testimony.  Why 
should  it?  It  is  not  dishonorable  to  testify  in  a  civil 
court.  Nay,  even  when  the  civil  power  has  occasionally 
interfered  to  take  the  administration  of  justice  out  of  the 
hands  of  college  Faculties,  the  very  same  young  men  who 
assumed  to  be  unable  to  state  the  truth  to  their  academi- 
cal superiors  without  dishonor,  have  shown  no  hesitancy 
to  give  evidence  before  a  jury — yet  no  one  has  thought 
the  worse  of  them.  It  is  no  reply  to  say  that  the  civil 
court   may  commit  a  witness  for  contumacy;    and  that 

3 


22  LETTERSON 

therefore  lie  has  no  choice  but  to  testify.  We  are  talking 
now  about  a  question  of  right  and  wrong — honor  and  dis- 
honor ;  and  if,  instead  of  committing  to  prison,  our  courts, 
like  those  of  the  Inquisition,  could  apply  the  rack,  even 
torture  itself  could  not  justify  the  disclosures  demanded,  if 
it  is  really  wrong  or  dishonorable  to  make  them. 

But  as  it  is  usually  true  that  there  cannot  be  any 
widely  spread  or  deeply  rooted  popular  conviction,  with- 
out some  original  basis  of  reason,  to  whatever  extremes 
the  conviction  may  have  been  carried  which  the  basis  will 
not  justify,  it  is  worth  while  to  inquire  out  of  what  plausi- 
ble, or  even  in  their  first  application  just,  considerations, 
has  grown  the   doctrine  that  no  student  may  inculpate 
another  student  by  his  testimony,  without  dishonor.     In 
the  first  place,  then,  students  associated  together  in  the 
same  class,  or  in  the  same  college,  occupy  to  each  other 
not  only  the  relation  of  subjects  to  a  common  government, 
but  that,  to  a  certain  extent,  of  members  of  the  same 
family.     And  as  in  families  mutual  confidence  is  an  una- 
voidable necessity,  so  the  obligation  to  guard  it  inviolable 
is  one  which  exists  antecedently  to  and  independently  of 
promises.     It  is  not  voluntarily  assumed,  and  it  cannot  be 
repudiated  at  the  option  of  the  individual.     But,  secondly, 
it  often  happens,  if  not  usually,  that  none  are  witnesses  of 
those  violations  of  college  laws  which  become  the  subject 
of  subsequent  inquiry,  who  are  not  themselves  to  a  greater 
or  less  degree  implicated  in  them ;  and  hence,  that  the  act 
of  giving  such  testimony  as  may  subject  another  to  cen- 
sure, betrays  a  seeming  willingness  to  purchase  immunity 
to  one's  self  by  treachery  to  a  friend.     Viewed   in  this 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  23 

light,  tlie  act  of  testifying  is  especially  odious ;  and  to  this 
case  I  propose  to  devote  no  attention. 

But  in  regard  to  the  implied  bond  of  confidence  be- 
tween members  of  the  student-body,  common  sense  sug- 
gests that  it  is  not  and  cannot  be  of  the  uncompromising 
nature  of  that  which  accompanies  the  family  tie ;  while 
we  cannot  but  call  to  mind  that  the  civil  power  does  not 
recognize  even  that  as  inviolable,  when  the  public  good 
requires  that  it  should  be  set  aside.  The  students  of  a 
college  are  by  no  means  so  compacted  together  that  the 
private  acts  of  each  one  are  of  necessity  exposed  to  his 
companions.  There  does  not,  in  other  words,  exist  the 
forced  confidence  of  the  family ;  and  the  main  argument 
in  support  of  the  inviolability  of  that  confidence  in  this 
case  falls  to  the  ground.  Yet,  inasmuch  as  it  is  undesira- 
ble that,  in  a  community  of  generous  and  impulsive  young 
men,  there  should  creep  in  any  thing  like  a  feeling  of  mu- 
tual suspicion,  I  would  have  it  continue  to  be  thought,  as 
it  is  I  believe  pretty  universally  thought,  among  Faculty 
and  students  equally,  that  information  privately  volun- 
teered by  one  student  injurious  to  another,  is  entirely  dis- 
honorable, and  ought  to  be  discountenanced  by  the  au- 
thorities, as  well  as  frowned  on  by  the  students. 

In  many  cases  of  disorder  in  college,  not  only  are  the 
great  majority  of  the  community  unacquainted  with  the 
offenders — showing  that  no  necessary  confidence  exists 
which  is  in  the  nature  of  things  unavoidable — but,  when  it 
is  otherwise,  and  when  those  who  interrupt  the  good  order 
of  college  force  themselves  upon  the  notice  of  their  peace- 
ably disposed  companions,  it  not  seldom  happens   that 


24:  LETTERSON 

strong  displeasure  is  excited  on  tlie  part  of  those  wliom 
they  thus  make  the  witnesses  of  their  lawlessness.  It  is 
nothing  short  of  an  absurdity  to  say  that  persons  who  are 
thus  not  necessarily  cognizant  of  infractions  of  order,  or 
who  when  made  acquainted  with  them,  are  made  so 
against  their  will,  shall  be  held  bound  to  identify  them- 
selves with  the  offenders,  and,  no  matter  what  may  be  the 
enormity  of  the  offenses  (and  it  is  often  great),  shall  actu- 
ally themselves  suffer  the  penalties  due  to  the  misdeed, 
rather  than  by  their  testimony  permit  the  authorities  to 
suppress  the  disturbances,  and  protect  them  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  their  rights,  and  in  the  peaceful  prosecution 
of  their  studies. 

After  what  I  have  said,  I  suppose  I  need  hardly  tell 
you  that,  had  I  a  system  of  law  to  prepare  for  a  college 
about  to  go  into  operation,  the  "  exculpation  law  "  should 
form  no  part  of  my  code.  Neither  would  I  commit  the 
folly  of  requiring  a  Faculty  to  protect  order  and  admin- 
ister justice,  without  empowering  that  body  to  investigate 
most  thoroughly  every  case  in  wh^ch  neglect  of  discipline 
might  endanger  the  preservation  of  the  ends  for  which 
government  is  instituted.  And  in  order  that  nothing 
might  be  wanting  to  their  power  in  this  respect,  I  would 
make  it  obligatory  on  every  student  to  give  eviden<!e — not 
to  individual  officers  in  private — by  no  means — but  to  the 
entire  governing  body,  when  sitting  as  a  court  of  inquiry, 
in  regard  to  any  breach  of  law  which  may  have  occurred 
in  his  presence,  or  to  his  knowledge  personally  obtained, 
no  matter  by  whom  committed.  Should  the  student  so 
interrogated  refuse  to  reply,  he  could  but  be  dismissed ; 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  25 

and  tliat  is  the  penalty  whicli  college  Faculties  are  now 
compelled  to  inflict  on  innocent  men,  wlien  they  refuse  to 
declare,  under  the  "  exculpation  law,"  that  they  are  inno- 
cent. 

I  am  by  no  means  sure  that  the  doctrine  I  here  avow 
will  be  a  popular  doctrine.  I  incline  to  think  rather  that 
it  will  be  the  very  contrary.  Since  colleges  themselves 
have  done  so  much,  in  my  honest  belief,  to  aid  in  vitiating 
the  public  sentiment  on  this  subject,  I  have  little  hope 
that  the  course  w^hich  appears  to  me  to  be  recommended 
by  the  plainest  common  sense,  will  meet  for  the  moment 
the  approbation  of  my  fellow-citizens.  I  ask  for  no  such 
immediate  approval.  I  ask  only  that  reflecting  men  shall 
turn  over  the  subject  in  their  minds,  and  come  to  no  decis- 
ion at  all  until  after  mature  consideration.  It  is  evident 
that  difficulties  environ  it  on  every  side.  Experiment  has 
satisfied  me  that  there  is  no  escape  by  endeavoring  to  go 
round  about.  In  this  case,  as  in  most  in  which  there  is 
any  thing  serious  to  be  hazarded,  I  believe  that  the  safest 
course  is  to  take  the  bull  by  the  horns. 

In  concluding  this  letter,  I  would  merely  add  that  the 
modes  of  investigation  of  which  I  have  been  speaking, 
both  that  of  the  old  colleges  and  its  substitute  which  ex- 
ists here,  much  as  they  are  denounced  and  rarely  as  they 
are  applied,  have  after  all  been  productive  of  an  amount 
of  good  seldom  considered  and  difficult  to  be  estimated, 
constituting  as  they  do  the  most  substantial  guaranty  for 
the  maintenance  of  order  and  the  supremacy  of  law.  This 
point  I  shall  further  illustrate  hereafter. 

University  of  Alabama^  July  21,  1854. 


26  LETTE  KS      ON 


LETTER     III. 

OBJECTION     TO     THE     MORAL     TENDENCIES     OF      THE     "  EXCULPATION     LAW 

CONSIDERED. SUBSTANTIAL     BENEFITS     DERIVED    FROM    THE    EXISTENCE 

OF    LAWS    TO    COMPEL    THE    DISCLOSURE    OF    TRUTH. 

One  of  the  objections  advanced  by  the  Eegister 
against  the  particular  law  of  this  and  other  Southern  col- 
leges, which  is  known  as  the  "  exculpation  law,"  I  have 
thus  far  omitted  to  examine.  I  allude  to  the  assertion 
that  the  mode  of  proceeding  sanctioned  by  that  law  is 
"  contrary  to  any  considerate  method  of  moral  culture." 
Having  frankly  expressed  my  own  very  decided  dissatis- 
faction with  the  law  in  question,  on  grounds  of  expediency 
and  policy,  I  must  still  feel  it  to  be  my  duty  to  defend  it 
on  those  of  morality. 

I  have  shown  that  this  law  was  adopted  as  a  substitute 
for  another,  which  other  was  supposed  to  press  too  harshly 
upon  the  delicate  sense  of  honor  of  young  men  in  Southern 
colleges.  Hitherto  the  main,  if  not  the  sole,  objection 
which  has  been  alleged  against  it  by  the  young  men  them- 
selves and  their  friends,  has  been  that  it  still  oppressed 
them  in  the  same  point  in  which  the  former  had  been 
intolerable ;  that,  in  short,  it  was  but  a  mode  of  obliging 
them  to  do  indirectly,  what  the  previously  existing  law 
required  that  they  should  do  directly,  viz.  discover  to  the 
authorities  the  authors  of  any  given  violation  of  law. 
Whether  or  not  the  sentiment  upon  which  this  objection 


I 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  27 

is  founded  is  wortliy  of  the  respect  it  has  received, 
whether  it  is  the  offspring  of  a  true  or  a  false  notion  of 
honor,  is  a  matter  of  no  present  importance ;  its  existence 
is  undeniable,  and  it  has  down  to  the  present  time  consti- 
tuted the  entire  basis  of  all  the  opposition  which  this  un- 
fortunate law  has  had  to  encounter.  The  objection  of  the 
Eegister  is  new ;  let  us  see  if  it  is  any  more  substantial. 
To  me  it  appears  to  involve  suppositions  entirely  incom- 
patible with  each  other. 

How  it  can  rationally  be  maintained,  for  instance,  that 
an  individual  whose  sense  of  honor  is  so  nice  that  he  will 
not  tell  the  truth,  when  called  upon,  lest  he  should  impli- 
cate a  companion,  may  yet  not  hesitate  to  tell  a  lie  lest  he 
should  implicate  himself,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  comprehend.   But 
should  this  phenomenon  occur  in  an  exceptional  instance, 
how  the  whole  body  of  the  companions  of  such  a  recreant, 
should  still  feel  bound,  by  the  force  of  the  sentiment  above 
spoken  of,  to  maintain  their  silence  nevertheless,  and  even 
to  give  themselves  up  to  martyrdom,  in  order  to  protect  the 
mean-spirited  delinquent  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  benefits 
of  his  falsehood,  is  still  less  conceivable.     Can  any  thing 
be  more  certain  than  that  public  opinion  would  blast  such 
a  wretch,  and  drive  him  out  from  a  community  of  honora- 
ble men?     For,  be  it  observed,  the  case  in   which   an 
offense  is  known  only  to  its  perpetrator,  is  a  case  almost 
or  quite  without  example  in  college;  and  I  cannot  con- 
ceive that  there  could  be  any  such  case  possible,  in  which 
a  Faculty  would  ever  think  of  applying  the  "  exculpation 
law  "  as  a  means  of  investigation,     The  language  of  the 
law  itself,  as  I  have  cited  it  in  a  former  communication, 


28  LETTERSON 

forbids  sucli  a  supposition ;  for  it  is  tliere  explicitly  stated 
to  be  designed  to  discover  the  offender  only  when  lie  is 
known  to  be  one  of  several  individuals  distinctly  designa- 
ted. The  offender  is  always,  therefore,  more  or  less  gen- 
erally known  to  the  student-body ;  and  in  case  of  an  act 
of  moral  turpitude  like  that  supposed  above,  he  could  not 
fail  to  become  at  once  known  to  the  whole.  No  young 
man,  after  such  an  act,  would  be  tolerated  for  a  moment 
in  college;  he  would  be  ostracized  without  a  dissenting 
voice.  Those  who  have  had  the  slightest  acquaintance 
with  such  communities  know  this ;  and  I  cannot  but  feel 
surprised  that  the  editor  of  the  Register  should  so  soon 
have  forgotten  what  his  own  observation  as  a  student  un- 
questionably taught  him.  But  the  "  exculpation  law  "  has 
not  been  assumed  to  exert  any  other  demoralizing  influ- 
ence except  that  of  holding  out  an  encouragement  to 
falsehood.  What  that  encouragement  can  amount  to,  in 
the  face  of  counteracting  principles  so  efficient  as  those 
which  I  have  just  pointed  out,  I  leave  my  readers  to 
judge. 

And  here  I  might  dismiss  the  subject  were  it  not  that 
the  present  objection,  like  those  which  I  have  heretofore 
disposed  of,  happens  to  lie  with  no  less  force  against  the 
old  law — which  I  have  shown  to  be  the  only  alternative 
law — than  it  does  against  the  present.  Take  the  rule  at 
Yale  College,  for  instance,  that  the  student  shall  testify  to 
what  he  knows,  let  the  evidence  inculpate  whom  it  may.  | 
A  refusal  to  speak  draws  down  the  censure  of  the  Faculty 
upon  himself;  a  free  declaration  of  the  truth,  criminates  J 
his  fellow-student,  and  involves  the  witness   in   popular  B 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  29 

odium.  In  this  case,  as  in  the  former,  at  a  prima  facie 
view,  it  would  appear  that  falsehood  would  save  the  wit- 
ness from  unpleasant  consequences  on  either  hand.  He 
may  testify,  and  so  disarm  the  Faculty;  but  he  may  testify 
falsely,  and  so  save  his  companion.  What  is  to  prevent 
his  doing  this  ?  Nothing,  but  his  own  strength  of  prin- 
ciple, and  that  withering  power  of  popular  opinion  in 
college,  before  which  the  deliberate  liar  cannot  for  one 
moment  stand.  Thus,  whichever  be  the  mode  of  investiga- 
tion sanctioned  by  the  laws  of  any  college,  the  same  temp- 
tation (if  it  is  a  temptation)  to  falsehood  in  the  witness , 
equally  exists ;  and  the  same  powerful  counter-influences 
co-exist  with  it,  to  neutralize  its  power  to  harm. 

I  asserted  in  my  last  communication  that  the  college 
laws  to  which  so  much  exception  has  been  taken,  have, 
notwithstanding,  been  productive,  after  all,  of  a  great  deal 
of  good ;  and  I  promised  further  to  illustrate  this  asser- 
tion. You  will  certainly  not  understand  me  to  intend 
that  they  have  effected  this  good  by  their  frequent  appli- 
cation ;  since  I  have  distinctly  admitted  that  they  are  sel- 
dom put  actually  in  force  without  being  attended  by  tem- 
porary injury  to  the  institution  which  is  compelled  to  fall 
back  upon  them.  I  maintain  that  such  ought  not  to  be 
the  case ;  but  I  admit,  as  I  have  said  before,  that  in  the 
present  morbid  condition  of  public  sentiment  on  the  sub- 
ject, such  is,  in  point  of  fact,  the  unfortunate  truth.  The 
good  which  they  do  is  therefore  not  to  be  measured  by 
the  amount  of  transgression  which  they  punish,  but  by 
the  much  more  considerable  amount  which  they  prevent. 
As  American  colleges  are  organized  to-day,  the  oppor- 


30  LETTERSON 

tunities  of  tlie  Faculty  personally  to  know  in  what  man- 
ner the  time  of  the  students  is  occupied,  at  all  those  hours 
in  which  recitations  or  lectures  are  not  actually  proceed- 
ing, are  so  extremely  limited,  as  to  he  practically  little 
better   than  none  at  all.     Our   collegiate   system  is  an 
attempted  imitation  of  that  which  was  instituted  at  Ox- 
ford and  Cambridge,  by  the  monkish  lecturers  of  the  mid- 
dle ages,  founded  mainly  upon  the  principle  of  the  monas- 
tery ;  but  the  imitation  is  unfortunately  complete  only  in 
the  least  desirable  of  its  features,  while  it  is  deficient  in 
most  of  the  safeguards  originally  designed  to  secure  it 
against  abuses.     In  those  venerable  universities  of  Great 
Britain  just   mentioned,   every  college   is   a  quadrangle, 
securely  walled  in,  with  a  janitor  always  at  the  door,  and 
with  a  definite  hour  for  shutting  in  the  entire  community 
by  bar  and  bolt.     Within  the  same  architectural  pile  re- 
side not  only  the  governed,  but  all  the  members  of  the 
governing  body,  from  the  President  (master)  down  to  the 
numerous  "  fellows,"  one  of  whose  duties  it  is  to  aid  the 
authorities  in  the  preservation  of  order.     The  whole  col- 
lege body,  moreover,  not  only  reside  under  one  roof,  but 
dine  together  at  one  table ;  so  that,  in  all  save  the  reli- 
gious aspect,  the  distinguishing  features  of  the  monastic 
family  are  kept  conspicuously  prominent  to  this  day. 

It  was  not  a  very  great  undertaking  for  a  body  of  gov- 
ernors possessed  of  advantages  like  those  here  described, 
to  assume  the  responsibility  of  preserving  good  order 
among  a  body  of  students  committed  to  their  guardian- 
ship. With  us  in  America  the  case  is  very  different.  Our 
college  dormitories  are  erected  in  an  isolated  group,  in  the 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  31 

midst  of  an  open  area.  No  officers,  or  only  here  and  there 
a  tutor,  occupy  rooms  m  these  buildings  by  night ;  none 
in  some  instances  even  by  day.  No  president  or  profes- 
sor meets  the  students  at  a  common  table ;  nor  do  com- 
mons continue  still  to  exist,  in  the  majority  of  cases.  No 
janitor  marks,  or  can  mark,  who  leaves  the  premises  dur- 
ing the  hours  which  the  law  devotes  to  study ;  still  less, 
who  steals  away  or  returns  at  those  unwarrantable  hours 
of  darkness  when  nearly  every  one  of  the  offenses  most 
ruinous  to  good  order  and  most  difficult  to  manage  is  usu- 
ally perpetrated.  Yet  under  all  these  disadvantages,  the 
public  demands  of  the  Faculty  of  every  American  college 
that  it  shall  govern  to  the  exclusion  of  every  other  species 
of  authority,  and  shall  still  govern  well.  The  college  is  a 
sanctuary  which  the  civil  power  may  not  invade.  It  is  an 
irrvperium  in  imperio  within  whose  confines  no  municipal 
functionary  may  venture  to  set  his  foot.  It  is  a  commu- 
nity shut  out  with  more  than  Japanese  seclusion  from  the 
surrounding  social  world;  and  subject  in  its  members  to 
none  of  those  restraining  influences,  by  which  public  opin- 
ion bears  upon  the  conduct  of  the  individuals  who  make 
up  the  society  to  which  man  is  born,  and  to  which  the 
student  himself  must  at  length  return. 

Such  a  community,  so  utterly  exempt  from  every  other 
species  of  control,  it  is  which  an  American  college  Fac- 
ulty are  required  to  govern,  and  to  govern  well.  Is  it 
reasonable  to  expect  them  to  do  this,  without  arming 
them  with  the  power  ?  And  is  it  not  nonsense  to  talk  of 
furnishing  them  with  such  arms,  while  they  are  denied  the 
right  to  compel,  under  the  highest  penalties  of  the  law, 


32  LETTEKSOlSr 

the  disclosure  of  truth,  wlien  the  truth  is  necessary  to  the 
protection  of  order  and  the  vindication  of  authority  ?  1 
have  asserted,  and  nobody  has  denied,  that  there  have 
been  yet  discovered  but  two  modes  of  exercising  this  com- 
pulsion. I  have  admitted  with  regret  that  neither  of 
these  modes  finds  favor  with  the  public  at  large,  whose 
interests  are  deeply  involved  in  the  success  of  colleges, 
and  whose  support  ought  always  to  be  unhesitating  and 
prompt  on  behalf  of  college  authorities.  But  in  spite  of 
this  I  maintain  that  these  laws  have  been  productive  of 
incalculable  good,  and  that  they  are  so  still,  at  this  very 
day. 

They  operate  as  a  restraint  of  so  powerful  a  nature, 
against  pushing  disorders  to  extremes,  as  to  render  such 
an  event  one  of  the  rarest  occurrences  in  college  history. 
Unfrequently  as  they  are  applied,  no  student  is  ignorant 
either  that  they  may  be  or  that  they  inevitably  will  be 
so,  whenever  the  necessity  arises.  Now,  though  no  doubt 
it  is  a  glorious  fate,  and  one  attended  with  much  applause 
of  friends,  to  say  nothing  of  an  almost  inevitable  newspa- 
per apotheosis,  to  perish  (academically)  in  the  fires  of  col- 
lege martyrdom ;  it  is,  nevertheless,  not  a  fate  which  is  spon- 
taneously courted.  No  species  of  martyr — not  even  the 
Christian — is  usually  such  from  absolute  preference  or 
choice.  And  should  the  unbiassed  testimony  of  young 
men  themselves,  who  have  had  the  largest  experience  in 
this  way,  be  taken,  I  have  no  doubt  whatever  that  it 
would  be  found  to  accord  in  the  main  with  the  view  ex- 
pressed by  the  elder  Weller  of  matrimony^  viz.  that  it  is 
a  very  fine  thing  no  doubt,  "  but  whether  it  is  worth  while 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  33 

to  go  tlirough  so  mucli  to  gain  so  little,  is  perliaps  more 
than  can  be  said  for  it." 

As  a  general  rule,  it  may  be  remarked  tliat  the  student 
finds  colleo:e  life  ao^reeable.  There  is  a  sort  of  indescriba- 
ble  fascination  about  the  microcosm  of  which  it  makes  him 
a  member.  There  is  a  charm  in  the  ties  to  which  it  intro- 
duces him,  and  a  fervor  unfelt  in  later  years,  in  the  friend- 
ships which  in  the  yet  unchilled  warmth  of  his  youthful 
feeliugs  it  leads  him  to  form.  When,  in  the  regular  pro- 
gress of  events,  the  inevitable  hour  approaches  which  is 
to  dissolve  this  dreamy  episode  of  his  existence,  he  feels  a 
pang,  deep  and  real  as  that  of  the  exile  who  steps  on 
board  the  bark  which  is  to  bear  him  from  his  native  land 
forever.  Exceptions  may — such  undoubtedly  do — exist; 
I  speak  of  the  great  majority.  And  I  say  that  a  life  so 
charming  will  not  on  slight  occasion  be  voluntarily  self- 
terminated  ! 

I  take  no  account  here,  at  all,  of  the  deep  and  earnest 
interest  which  many — possibly  most — take  in  the  intellec- 
tual pursuits  to  which  their  college  life  is  devoted.  I  say 
nothing  of  the  firm  conviction  and  just  appreciation  of 
the  value  of  the  opportunities  which  they  enjoy,  for  self- 
formation,  and  preparation  to  grapple  with  the  realities  of 
life,  by  which  the  minds  of  all  thoughtful  young  men  are 
impressed  in  the  midst  of  the  priceless  advantages  here 
surrounding  them,  These  are  benefits  which  no  man  of 
sense  will  lightly  relinquish,  however  ardent  and  impul- 
sive the  fires  of  youth  may  make  him.  But  I  sa}^  that, 
when  to  these  weighty  considerations  are  added  the  pecu- 
liar charm  of  student  life,  of  which  I  have  more  particu- 


34  LETTERSON 

larly  spoken  above,  tlie  inducement  to  avoid  acts  whicli 
may  raise,  and  to  suppress  practices  which  may  provoke, 
issues  which,  however  attended  with  temporary  eclat, 
must  necessarily  terminate  disastrously  to  the  student  at 
last,  is  scarcely  deficient  in  a  single  element  of  complete- 
ness. It  is  thus  that  the  laws  of  which  I  have  been  speak- 
ing, exert  a  happy  influence  in  spite  of  their  unpopularity ; 
while,  were  no  such  laws  in  existence,  American  colleges, 
as  at  present  organized,  would  possess  no  guaranty  that 
their  tranquillity  would  remain  undisturbed  for  a  single 
day. 

University  of  Alabama^  July  26,  1854. 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  35 


LETTER     IV. 

DIFFICULTY     OF     THE     POSITION     OF     COLLEGE    OFFICERS    AS    GOVERNORS. 

PERSONAL    QUALITIES     ESSENTIAL     TO     THEIR    SUCCESS. PRINCIPLES      OF 

ACTION    BY    WHICH    THEY    SHOULD    BE    GUIDED. 

To  what  I  have  already  said  as  to  the  necessity  for  the 
existence  of  a  substantial  guaranty  for  the  preservation  of 
good  order  In  institutions  organized  as  are,  for  the  most 
part,  the  colleges  of  this  country  at  present,  I  have  noth- 
ing further  to  add.  But  having  more  than  once  alluded  to 
the  evidence  of  an  evil  or  defect  inherent  in  the  system 
itself — evidence  which  cannot  be  evaded  or  impugned — it 
might  be  expected  that  I  should  point  out  this  defect  and 
endeavor  to  suggest  a  remedy.  That  is  a  part  of  my  pur- 
pose, but  I  am  not  quite  yet  prepared  to  come  to  the 
point.  I  have  discussed  but  a  portion  of  the  evidence  by 
which  the  existence  of  the  evil  is  manifested.  There  re- 
mains still  more  behind. 

Before  giving  further  thought  to  that  matter,  however, 
permit  me  to  call  the  attention  of  the  reflecting  ]3ublic  to 
the  difficulty  and  delicacy  of  the  position  in  which  all  col- 
lege officers,  under  the  existing  system,  are  placed;  and 
the  great  need  which  they  have,  when  they  faithfully  dis- 
charge their  duty,  of  being  sustained  by  the  approbation 
of  the  wise  and  thinking ;  since  it  is  vain  for  them  to  look, 
when  it  is  most  to  be  desired,  for  that  of  the  masses,  who 
are  too  apt  to  judge  without  consideration,  and  are  predis- 


36  LETTERSON 

posed  to  condemn  (as  I  liave  already  shown)  the  only 
basis  on  whicli  a  stable  college  government  can  be  erected. 
While  matters  proceed  smoothly  and  the  penal  law  slum- 
bers, it  is  possible  that  those  who  happen  to  be  at  the 
head  of  affairs  may  receive  higher  commendation  than 
they  really  deserve ;  and  that  without  possessing  uncom- 
mon qualities  as  governors  of  youth,  they  may  yet  be  re- 
puted to  possess  them.  But  let  disorders  arise,  and  let  it 
become  necessary  to  resort  to  measures  of  extremity  to 
suppress  them,  and  it  will  presently  be  manifest  that  no 
prudence,  no  forbearance,  no  wisdom,  can  save  the  best 
men  from  the  much  evil-speaking  which  the  popular  dis- 
like of  the  system  they  administer  is  sure  to  draw  down 
upon  them. 

While  this  faulty  system  continues,  then,  will  it  ever 
be  possible  so  to  conduct  the  government  of  any  college, 
as  to  avoid  altogether  the  recurrence  of  scenes  like  that 
through  which  the  University  of  Alabama  has  recently 
passed,  and  which  never  fail  to  give  a  shock  to  the  pros- 
perity of  the  institution  in  which  they  occur,  from  which 
it  requires  a  sensible  time  to  recover  ?  So  long  as  human 
nature  remains  what  it  is,  the  answer  to  this  question 
must,  I  fear,  be  negative.  For  in  order  that  the  possibil- 
ity may  exist,  it  is  necessary  that  a  government  should  be 
so  wise  and  so  prudent  and  so  benignant,  as  by  its  moral 
power  alone  to  accomplish  all  the  ends  which  laws  are  en- 
acted to  secure.  And  such  a  government,  by  the  terms  of 
our  supposition,  must  not  be  merely  temporary — as  may 
well  happen  under  now  and  then  a  preeminently  gifted 
head — but  permanent,  under  a  succession  of  rulers.     This 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  37 

is  more  tlian  can  be  reasonably  exjDected.  Yet  the  fact 
that  the  strong  arm  of  the  law  is  not  oftener  invoked  is 
evidence  that  college  officers,  as  a  class,  do  in  fact  possess 
a  large  share  of  those  qualities  which  render  law  unneces- 
sary, and  to  the  jDresumed  jDossession  of  which  they  owe  in 
a  considerable  measure,  their  selection  for  the  posts  which 
they  fill.  Persons  unaccustomed  to  reflect  upon  this  sub- 
ject, may  imagme  that  it  is  a  very  simple  thing  to  dis- 
charge at  once  faithfully  and  acceptably  the  delicate  re- 
sponsibilities resting  upon  a  member  of  the  government  of 
a  college.  There  is  no  difficulty  in  showing  how  great  is 
the  mistake  committed  by  such. 

It  is  not  enough  that  a  man  be  a  good  man  in  order 
that  he  may  succeed  as  a  governor  of  youth.  The  very 
best  of  men  may  make  the  worst  possible  of  governors. 
Good  men  act  from  convictions  of  duty ;  and  when  once 
their  course  is  chosen,  the  mens  conscia  recti  not  only  sus- 
tains them  in  it,  but  forces  them  to  cling  to  it,  whatever 
may  be  the  consequences.  How  important,  then,  that  a 
man  should  be  wise  as  well  as  good — that  his  judgment 
should  be  as  sound  as  his  purposes  are  upright  and  his 
principles  pure !  But  wisdom  and  goodness  combined  are 
still  insufficient  to  guaranty  the  success  of  a  college  gover- 
nor. Kectitude  of  intention  and  soundness  of  judgment 
may  lead  to  a  correct  decision  as  to  what  the  exigencies  of 
a  particular  case  demand ;  but  absolutely  the  same  meas- 
ure in  the  hands  of  two  different  men  may  be  put  into 
force  with  results  very  unequally  successful.  In  college 
as  in  family  government  it  is  manner  no  less  than  sub 
stance  which  secures  subordination,  and  determines  com- 

•i 


38  LETTERSON 

pliance  witli  tlie  requirements  of  authority.  This  consid- 
eration is  of  the  very  highest  importance.  I  propose  to 
inquire,  therefore,  more  positively,  what  are  the  qualities 
which  a  member  of  the  government  of  a  college  ought  to 

possess  ? 

Before  descending  to  particulars,  I  may  say  in  general 
terms,  that  these  qualities  ought  to  be  such  as,  in  their 
combination,  to  impress  all  whom    his  authority  reaches 
with  the  full  conviction  that  toward  them  personally  he 
has  but  one  feeling,  which  is  a  feeling  of  kindness ;  and 
that  in  whatever  he  does  affecting  them  he  has  but  one 
motive,  which  is  to  do  them  good.     It  unfortunately  too 
often  happens  that  an  impression  the  very  opposite  of  this 
springs  up  and  becomes  permanently  established  among  a 
body  of  students.     I  have  known  this  to  occur  in  refer- 
ence to  men  who  certainly  lacked  none  of  the  qualities 
which  might  have  enabled  them  to  command  a  more  desi- 
rable reputation ;  but  who  failed  to  appreciate  the  great 
importance  of  establishing  their  rule  on  the  basis  of  the 
affections.     I  am  aware  that  it  is  hardly  with  reason  to  be 
supposed  that  any  college  officer  can  entertain  toward  the 
students  whom  he  instructs  any  feelings  but  those  of  the 
utmost  kindness  and  good  will.     The  question  is  not,  how- 
ever, a  question  of  fact  on  the  one  side,  so  much  as  one  of 
conviction  on  the  other ;  it  is  not  whether  the  officer  is, 
but  whether  he  is  believed  to  be,  the  student's  friend.     A 
conviction   of    this   kind   once   established   in   his   favor 
throughout  the  little   community  to  which  he  belongs, 
arms  such  a  man  with  a  power  to  control,  which  all  the 
terrors  of  the  law  could  not  otherwise  give  him. 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  39 

But  it  may  be  asked,  How  can  one  avIio  from  the  neces- 
sities of  his  situation  must  sometimes  admonish,  sometimes 
censure,  sometimes  perhaps  even  subject  to  punishment, 
some  of  those  who  are  placed  under  his  guardianship,  how 
can  he  under  such  circumstances  secure  that  universal  and 
eminently  desirable  confidence,  which  I  have  represented 
to  be  so  important  an  element  of  his  success  ?  In  reply,  I 
must  refer  to  that  distinction  which  I  have  made  above, 
in  regard  to  manner  in  carrying  out  measures  V)f  govern- 
ment. College  officers  may  censure  and  punish  without 
destroying  the  confidence  of  those  who  incur  their  dis- 
pleasure in  the  sincerity  of  their  desire  to  promote  in  the 
highest  degree  the  welfare  of  all  subject  to  their  govern- 
ment, or  without  shaking  the  belief  of  the  culprit  himself 
that  they  entertain  toward  him  personally  no  feelings  but 
those  of  friendship  and  kindness,  even  while  they  censure. 
An  assertion  of  this  kind  may  be  best  established  by  illus- 
tration. The  venerable  Dr.  Day,  of  New  Haven,  still 
lives,  beloved  of  hundreds  whose  youthful  indiscretions  he 
censured,  whose  youthful  follies  he  rebuked,  and  whose 
youthful  passions  he  restrained  and  controlled.  For  half 
a  century  he  was  an  officer  of  the  largest  college  in  the 
United  States,  and  for  thirty  years  of  that  period  he  occu- 
pied the  presidency.  During  his  connection  with  the  col- 
lege more  than  four  thousand  students  were  graduated, 
and  there  were  not  less  than  two  thousand  more  who  did 
not  complete  the  collegiate  course.  Out  of  all  the  great 
number  who  thus  came  in  contact  with  this  admirable 
man  and  faultless  college  officer,  I  never  heard  of  one  who 
did  not  always  regard  him  with  feelings  of  confidence  and 


40  L  E  T  T  E  R  S      O  N 

affection ;  nor  even  now  do  I  meet  an  alumnus  of  tliat 
institution,  however  long  graduated,  wliose  heart  does  not 
turn  back,  like  my  own,  with  a  glow  of  grateful  remem- 
brance to  the  guide  and  friend  of  his  early  years.  The 
thing,  therefore,  is  practicable.  What,  then,  are  the  per- 
sonal qualities  and  what  are  the  principles  of  action 
which  may  enable  any  officer  to  realize  it   in  his  own 

case  ? 

To  spenk  of  the  second  point  first.  Confidence  is  a 
feeling  which  cannot  exist  all  upon  one  side,  any  more  than 
love ;  nor  can  a  college  officer  command  the  confidence  of 
students,  without  reposing,  or  at  least  seeming  to  repose, 
a  corresj^ondent  confidence  in  them.  A  principle  of 
action,  therefore,  from  which  no  wise  college  officer  will 
depart,  is  invariably  to  treat  the  student  as  if  he  believed 
him  to  intend  rightly.  In  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  he  will 
be  able  to  do  this  from  conviction;  for,  manifestly,  as  a 
general  rule,  the  student  must  and  will  intend  rightly; 
and  if  in  the  tenth  case  circumstances  arise  to  create  a 
doubt  of  this,  he  will  at  once  frankly  state  these  circum- 
stances, and  afford  the  oj)portunity  for  an  explanation. 
He  will,  in  short,  upon  this  point  have  no  concealments, 
nor  allow  his  manner  ^to  ^betray  any  thing  dubious.  By 
adopting  this  as  a  principle  he  will,  in  ninety-nine  cases 
out  of  a  hundred,  be  met  in  a  spirit  of  equal  frankness, 
and  will  remove  the  strongest  of  the  temptations  by 
which  youth  are  led  to  engage  in  violations  of  the  rules 
of  order.  To  attempt  deliberately  to  deceive  him,  or 
to  impose  upon  his  confidence,  will  be  regarded  as  an 
act  partaking  of  the  nature  of  treachery — the  most  odious 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  41 

'of  all  species  of  moral  delinquency  in  the  eyes  of  generous 
young  men. 

It  will  be  another  principle  of  action  which  a  wise 
governor  of  youth  will  observe,  to  resort  to  no  means  of 
seeking  to  learn  in  what  manner  the  hours  of  young  men 
are  employed,  during  which  his  personal  observation  can- 
not reach  them,  except  such  as  are  fair,  above-board,  and 
distinctly  avowed.  This  principle  would  be  but  a  neces- 
sary consequence  of  the  former,  provided  that  were  adopt- 
ed in  full  sincerity  of  purpose,  and  not  merely  in  outward 
show.  But  there  is  an  element  of  suspicion  innate  in  some 
natures,  which  will  not  let  them  fully  confide  in  those 
around  them,  and  least  of  all,  perhaps,  in  those  who  are 
subject  to  their  authority.  Such  persons,  though  from 
convictions  of  policy  they  may  endeavor  to  wear  an  unsus- 
pecting front,  find  it  sometimes  impossible  to  resist  the 
temptation  to  listen  to  information  coming  to  them  through 
devious  channels,  or  occasionally  even  from  putting  in  train 
devices  of  vigilance  which  differ  little  in  princij)le  from 
deliberate  and  systematic  espionage.  It  is  to  be  doubted 
whether  any  thing  so  learned  is  ever  productive  of  any 
substantial  benefit  to  either  party ;  but  it  is  quite  certain 
that  if  the  means  employed  become  known  or  even  suspect- 
ed, the  moral  powder  of  the  governor  who  uses  them  is  bro- 
ken forever.  Between  equals,  nothing  is  more  true  than 
that  none  confide  in  those  who  refuse  to  render  confidence 
in  turn ;  between  subordinate  and  superior,  this  is,  if  possi- 
ble, still  more  emphatically  the  case.  It  would  be  a  curi- 
ous, and  at  the  same  time  an  instructive  inquiry,  were  it 
practicable,  to  ascertain  how  many  of  the  difiiculties,  great 


42  L  E  T  T  E  R  S       O  N 

and  small,  whicli  have  arisen  to  mar  the  peace  of  colleges^ 
have  sprung  from  the  irritation  which  a  sensitive  disposi- 
tion never  fails  to  experience  at  the  impression  conceived, 
whether  justly  or  unjustly,  by  its  possessor,  that  his  foot- 
steps have  been  dogged,  his  j)rivate  acts  scrutinized,  and 
his  careless  and  unguarded  exj^ressions  noted  down  to  be 
used  to  his  disadvantage.  Conceived,  I  say,  whether 
justly  or  unjustly;  but  in  the  shape  which  the  impression 
too  often  takes,  and  which,  not  to  mince  matters,  I  pur- 
posely clothe  in  the  language  whicli  the  exasperated  stu- 
dent himself  is  wont  to  emj^loy,  there  can  be  no  question 
that  it  is  always  unjust.  Yet  this  circumstance  renders  it 
none  the  less  prolific  of  evil.  Upon  him  who  entertains 
it,  it  exercises  all  the  power  of  an  odious  reality  to  incense 
and  inflame ;  and  even  when  full  conviction  does  not  at- 
tend it,  it  is  so  far  from  being  the  less  irritating,  that  the 
angry  youth  is  often  only  the  more  angry  at  the  sugges- 
tion of  a  possible  doubt.  It  is  the  part  of  wisdom,  there- 
fore, to  avoid  anv  thins:  which  can  furnish  a  basis,  how- 
ever  shadowy,  to  impressions  like  these.  Nor  do  I  believe 
that  college  officers  often  err  in  this  way.  I  believe  that, 
with  most,  there  is  a  frankness  of  real  confidence  mani- 
fested toward  the  students  whom  they  meet,  which  engen- 
ders an  equally  unreserved  reciprocation  of  the  same  feel- 
ing ;  and  that  the  instances  are  rare  indeed,  in  whicli  the 
foundation  of  this  desirable  state  of  things  is  broken  up 
by  such  measures  of  vigilance  on  the  part  of  suj)eriors,  as 
are  calculated  to  destroy  that  mutual  kindness  and  good 
will,  which  are  the  firmest  security  for  the  stability  of  any 
government. 

University  of  Alabama^  July  31,  1854. 


COLLEGE       GOVERNMENT.  4 


€t 


LETTER   V. 


THE    AMERICAN  COLLEGE    SYSTEM    MAINLY    DEPENDENT    FOR    ITS    SUCCESSFUL 
OPERATION     UPON     THE     PERSONAL      QUALITIES      OF      DISPOSITION      AND 

TEMPERAMENT     OF     THE     MEN    WHO     CONDUCT    IT. INSECURITY    ARISING 

FROM     THIS     CAUSE. ENUMERATION     OF     THE    MOST    ESSENTIAL    OF    THE 

MORAL    QUALITIES    WHICH    THE    COLLEGE    OFFICER    SHOULD    POSSESS. 

I  HAVE  spoken  of  certain  principles  of  action,  the 
observance  of  wliicli  on  tlie  part  of  those  who  are  charged 
with  the  government  of  young  men,  I  consider  to  be 
essential  to  the  permanent  success  of  their  rule.  I  am 
about  to  speak  of  certain  positive  qualities  of  disposition 
and  temperament,  which,  in  their  very  highest  manifesta- 
tions, are  perhaps  the  gift  of  few,  but  of  which  the  posses- 
sion, in  a  degree  greater  than  belongs  to  the  generality  of 
mankind,  is  apparently  no  less  essential  to  the  certain 
attainment  of  the  ends  of  good  government.  Nor  in  doing 
this  am  I  deviating  from  the  main  purpose  I  have  in  view 
in  this  series  of  articles,  which  is  to  demonstrate  the  exist- 
.  ence  of  an  imperfection  in  our  college  system  as  at  present 
organized,  in  order  that  I  may  proceed  to  suggest  what 
■  seems  to  me  a  simple  and  easy  remedy. 

I  do  not  wish  to  anticipate,  nor  to  take  up  things  out 
of  their  natural  order;  yet  since  I  have  distinctly  an- 
nounced my  ultimate  design,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  say 
here,  for  the  sake  of  preventing  misconceptions,  that  what 
I  have  to  propose  is  no  great  and  sweeping  change,  no 


44:  L  E  T  T  E  K  S       O  X 

suspicious  or  startling  innovation.  Neither  tlie  e^dl  nor 
its  remedy  have  any  necessary  connection  whatever  with 
the  system  of  instruction  now  generally  practiced  in 
American  colleges.  The  removal  of  that  evil  involves  no 
-derangement  of  that  system,  nor  any  injury  to  a  single 
vone  of  its  important  features.  But  of  this,  those  who  have 
patience  to  follow  me  to  the  end,  will  be  able  to  judge  in 
due  time. 

Meanwhile,  if  I  show  it  to  be-  a  fact,  that  the  successful 
operation  of  the  existing  system  of  government  depends 
almost  wholly  upon  the  character  of  the  men  who  admin- 
ister it ;  and  farmer,  that  the  peculiar  endowments  which 
especially  fit  men  for  this  difficult  task,  are  in  their  fullest 
development  rare,  I  shall  have  established  a  ])rior%  what 
experience  corroborates,  that  such  a  system  is  always  in- 
secure; and  that,  if  this  element  of  hazard  admits  of 
removal,  the  remedy  ought  to  be  applied. 

The  first  trait  of  character  which  I  resrard  as  essential 
to  the  success  of  a  college  officer  under  our  present  system 
of  government,  is  one  in  which  few  are  found  to  fail ;  but 
which  rather  from  its  occasional  predominance  over  the 
milder  traits,  gives  sometimes  something  like  a  tone  of 
harshness  to  the  manner,  which  it  were  better  to  veil ;  and 
that  is  firmness.  No  government  can  succeed  which  fails 
to  command  respect,  and  no  respect  can  be  felt  for  a  vac- 
illating, timorous,  or  irresolute  superior.  The  hand  must 
be  at  once  strong  and  steady  which  holds  the  rein  over 
the  giddy  impulses  of  heedless  or  undisciplined  youth; 
nor  will  any  be  found  more  ready  to  admit  this  necessity 
than   those,  or  at  least  the  majority  of  them  (for  most 


COLLEGE      G  O  V  E  K  N  M  E  N  T  .  45 

young  men  are  ingenuous)  who  themselves  need  the 
restraint.  But  uj^on  this  point  it  is  unnecessary  to  multi- 
ply words,  since  the  absence  of  the  quality  under  consider- 
ation is  rarely  one  of  the  faults  of  an  American  college 
officer. 

It  may  be  occasionally  otherwise  in  regard  to  the  qual- 
ity of  which  I  am  next  to  speak,  and  of  which  the  import- 
ance is  always  most  felt  in  connection  w^ith  the  last.  I 
mean  a  mildness  of  manner^  which  divests  the  firmest 
government  of  every  appearance  of  sternness,  and  clothes 
the  severest  decrees  of  justice  with  the  exterior  of  kind- 
ness. The  popular  appreciation  of  the  value  of  such  a 
union  of  qualities  is  manifested  in  the  frequent  application 
of  the  maxim,  which,  with  aphoristic  brevity,  associates 
them,  as  the  "  suaviter  in  modo^  fortiter''in  reT  Napoleon 
observed  of  the  French,  that  they  needed  for  their  control 
"  a  hand  of  iron  in  a  glove  of  velvet."  One  of  his  subjects, 
who  probably  knew  by  experience  the  feeling  of  the  hand, 
'  remarked,  that  the  great  monarch  never  failed  of  the  iron 
grasp,  but  often  forgot  to  put  on  the  glove.  The  observ- 
ation of  the  French  emperor  is  not  inapjDlicable  to  the 
impulsive  youth  of  our  American  colleges ;  and  while  I 
yield  to  no  one  in  my  conviction  of  the  indispensable 
necessity  of  firmness  and  decision  in  college  government,  I 
sincerely  believe  that  an  exterior  of  unvarying  mildness 
on  the  part  of  those  who  administer  such  a  government,  is 
a  means  of  preventing  evil,  more  efficacious  than  all  the 
penalties  of  the  law  put  together.  If  youthful  passions, 
prompt  to  eftervesce,  are  easily  excited,  so  are  they  cjuite 
as  easily  soothed  ;  and  the  fable  of  the  sun  and  the  w^ind. 


46  L  E  T  T  E  R  S      O  N 

thongli  it  symbolizes  a  trutli  as  universal  as  human  nature^, 
is  nowhere  more  strikingly  illustrative  than  within  the 
walls  of  a  college. 

Much,  also,  of  the  success  of  college  government  de- 
pends upon  the  exercise  of  a  wise  discretion  by  the  officer, 
in  regard  to  the  use  he  may  make  of  his  own  powers. 
Because  he  may  punish,  it  does  not  follow  that  he  always 
should  23unish,  whenever  occasion  arises.     It  does  not  even 
follow  that  he  should  alwaj^s  betray  his  knowledge  of  the 
oftense,  farther  than  to  the  offender  himself.     By  privately 
admonishing  the  individual  of  the  impropriety  of  his  con- 
duct, and  pointing  out  to  him  the  danger  to  which  he  has 
exposed  himself,  much  more  good  may  often  be  accom- 
plished, in  the  way  of  prevention  and  reformation,  than 
by  all  the  disgrace  attendant  on  public  rebuke  and  cen- 
sure.    When  such  a  course  is  possible,  it  is  obviously  the 
wisest,  as  it  is  the  kindest  and  most  forbearing.     But  such 
a  mode  of  proceeding  may  not  always  answer  the  purpose ; 
and  on  this  account  it  is,  that  no  quality  of  mind  is  of 
higher  value  in  the  officer  than  a  clear  and  discreet  judg- 
ment.    Censures,  penalties,  punishments  of  all  kinds,  are 
unavoidable  necessities,  arising  out  of  the  imi:)erfection  of 
human  nature ;  but  as  their  main  design,  in  human  insti- 
tutions, is  the  prevention  of  offenses,  so  the  less  they  are 
resorted  to,  consistently  with  the  attainment  of  this  end, 
the  better. 

It  is  not  an  unfrequent  occurrence,  that  a  young  man 
in  college  feels  himself  aggrieved  by  something  which  has 
occurred  between  him  and  his  instructor.  He  may  imag- 
ine  that  a  fair  hearing  has  not  been  given  him  in  the  reci- 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  4T 

tation  room;  or  lie  may  interpret  in  an  injurious  sense^^ 
words  addressed  to  him  in  the  hearing  of  his  class ;  or  he 
may  believe  that  he  has  not  been  rated  as  high,  on  the 
record,  as  his  performances  merit ;  or  some  other  cause  of 
dissatisfaction  may  arise,  to  induce  him  to  remonstrate  or 
complain.  Nor  should  the  instructor  turn  from  such  rej3- 
resentations  contemptuously  away.  Patience  should  be 
one  of  his  marked  characteristics  ;  and  he  will  probably 
never  find  it  more  thoroughly  tried  than  on  occasions  of 
this  kind.  For  if  he  possess  the  qualities  I  have  already 
enumerated,  especially  the  last  two  named,  he  will  have 
been  steadily  laboring  against  the  very  errors  which  he 
sees  thus  imputed  to  him,  and  he  must  feel  that  his  inten- 
tion is  certainly  wTonged,  whatever  impression  his  words 
or  acts  may  have  conveyed.  But  this  must  not  provoke 
him  to  listen  any  the  less  patiently,  or  to  explain  any  the 
less  circumstantially,  the  occurrences  out  of  which  the 
dissatisfaction  has  grown;  nor  if  he  pursues  such  a  course 
will  he  usually  fail  to  dispel  the  momentary  chagrin,  and 
re-establish  the  feeling  of  confidence  and  kindness  which 
it  had  temporarily  disturbed. 

I  need  not  say  how  important  it  is  that  the  college 
ofiicer,  whether  in  dispensing  censure  or  praise,  should  be 
actuated  by  no  feeling  of  favor  on  the  one  hand,  or  of 
prejudice  on  the  other.  There  exists  no  higher  necessity 
in  the  civil  courts,  that  justice  should  be  meted  out  with 
severe  impartiality^  than  that  the  same  principle  should 
preside  over  all  the  awards  of  college  authority.  No 
more  frequent  charge  is  advanced  against  the  officers  of 
our  literary  institutions,  than  that  they  are  partial.     The 


4:8  L  E  T  T  E  R  S       O  N 

partiality  alleged  to  exist,  is  more  commonly  one  of  favor 
than  tlie  contrary;  but  we  liear  it  sometimes  asserted, 
nevertlieless,  that  the  prejudices  of  officers  blind  them  to 
the  merits  of  certain  individuals,  or  lead  them  to  exercise 
toward  such  an  undue  severity.  As  a  general  rule,  it 
may  be  said  that  these  imputations  are  unfounded.  The 
disregard  with  which,  often  as  they  are  made,  they  are 
treated  by  the  j^ublic,  show^s  that  they  are  considered  to 
be,  as  on  the  slightest  estimate  of  probabilities  they  must 
appear,  entirely  baseless.  They  point  out,  nevertheless,  a 
quality  which  it  is  absolutely  indis23ensable  that  the  col- 
lege officer  should  230ssess ;  while  they  admonish  us  that 
it  is  not  the  possession  alone,  but  the  reputation  of  pos- 
sessing (I  refer  to  the  reputation  within  the  college  itself), 
which  the  judicious  officer  wdll  aim  to  secure. 

It  may  be  observed  that  the  most  cautious  ^visdom 
will  not  always  preserve  to  the  most  judicious  college 
officer,  the  invariable  and  unfailing  good- will  of  those 
whom  it  is  his  duty  to  control.  Sudden  ebullitions  of 
temper  on  the  part  of  excitable  young  men,  may  prompt 
them  to  hasty  words  or  acts,  well  suited  to  subvert  the 
equanimity  of  any  one,  how^ever  by  nature  imperturbable. 
Yet  the  imperturbability  of  the  college  officer  should  be 
superior  to  all  such  provocations.  He  should  tranquilly 
suffer  the  moment  of  excitement  to  pass  by  ;  and  allow 
the  offender,  under  the  influence  of  the  self-rebuke  usually 
consequent  upon  reflection,  to  make  the  reparation  which 
the  case  demands.  To  allow  himself  to  become  excited,  is 
but  to  widen  the  breach  and  render  it  irreparable ;  when 
but  a  single  consequence  can  possibly  follow.     He  who 


t, 


COLLEGE      G  O  V  E  R  N"  JI  E  X  T  .  49? 


has  set  at  defiance  tlie  authorities  of  the  college,  or  treated 
its  representative  with  gross  disrespect,  can  no  longer  re- 
main a  member  of  the  institution.  The  necessity,  there- 
fore, oi  great  poiuer  of  self  command  o\i  the  part  of  a  col- 
lege officer  is  obvious;  for  though  the  occasions  which 
may  severely  try  it  can  never  be  frequent,  yet  the  want  of 
it,  whenever  they  occur,  is  a  misfortune  for  which  nothing 
can  adequately  compensate. 

I  have  but  one  thing  more  to  add.  To  a  wise  college 
ofovernor,  the  word  inexorable  loill  he  unhnown.  The 
faults  of  youth  are  usually  faults  of  impulse  rather  than  of 
deliberate  purpose.  They  evince  not  so  much  settled  wick- 
edness as  thoughtless  folly,  or  giddy  recklessness  of  dispo- 
sition. Few  so  immature  in  years  as  are  the  majority  of 
college  youth,  are  already  entirely  abandoned ;  while  it  is 
a  fact  almost  without  exception,  that  those  among  every 
body  of  students  who  have  passed  the  climacteric  which 
separates  them  from  boyhood,  have  ceased  any  longer  to 
require  the  restraining  influence  of  college  governments. 
The  culprits,  then,  who  are  brought  to  the  bar  of  college 
justice,  are  almost  invariably  boys,  whom  vice  has  not  had 
time  utterly  to  subjugate,  and  whose  consciences  are  not 
yet  callous  to  every  appeal.  From  such,  when  they  repent, 
a  considerate  governor  will  be  slow  to  turn  unfeelingly 
away ;  nor  while  there  remains  room  for  pardon  will  he 
hesitate  to  extend  it  to  them.  He  will  remember,  that  on 
his  decision  perhaps  hangs  the  entire  destiny  of  the  offen- 
der, for  this  world  if  not  for  another ;  and  no  considera- 
tions but  such  as  involve  the  highest  interests  of  the  entire 
communitv  over  which  he  is  placed  as  a  guardian,  will 


50  LETTERSON 

prevent  his  accepting  tlie  evidence  of  sincere  repentance 
as  an  expiation  of  the  most  serious  fault. 

But  were  all  college  officers  gifted  in  the  highest  degree 
with  the  qualities  which  I  have  enumerated,  I  do  not  know 
that  it  would  follow  that  troubles  would  be  impossible.  I 
only  know  that  the  non-existence  of  these  endowments,  to 
at  least  a  pretty  large  extent,  leaves  open  a  wide  door  for 
their  entrance.  It  is  true,  therefore,  that  the  existing  col- 
lege system  is  dependent  for  its  successful  o]3eration,  in  a 
very  eminent  degree,  upon  the  kind  of  men  to  whom  its 
administration  is  entrusted ;  and  this  fact,  if  it  inheres  in 
the  system  only  in  consequence  of  the  existence  in  the 
same  system  of  features  which  are  inessential  to  the  great 
purposes  of  education,  and  which  admit  of  easy  removal, 
is  an  evil  the  more  to  be  deplored,  because  it  is  unneces- 
sary. 

University  of  Alabama^  Aug.  5,  1854. 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  51 


LETTER    VI. 


OBJECTIONS  OF  THE    "  REGISTER  "    TO  THE  DAILY  VISITATION   OF  ROOMS,  CON- 
SIDERED.  DESIGN    OF    THIS    VISITATION. REASONS     FOR     MAINTAINING 

THE    USAGE. SOCIAL    INTERCOURSE    BETWEEN    OFFICERS  AND    STUDENTS 

OUGHT  TO  BE    CULTIVATED. 


I  AM  now  prepared  to  return  to  the  consideration  of  a 
college  usage  to  which  you  have  raised  serious  objections, 
but  which  I  dismissed,  in  the  commencement  of  this  dis- 
cussion, with  no  other  remark  than  that  its  23revalence  is 
co-extensive  with  that  of  the  system  itself: — I  allude  to 
the  practice  made  obligatory  on  the  officers  of  colleges  to 
visit,  from  time  to  time,  the  rooms  of  the  students,  durino* 
the  hours  set  apart  for  study. 

You  object  to  visitation  mainly  upon  two  grounds : 
First,  that  it  is  an  invasion  of  the  natural  right  of  the  stu- 
dent to  privacy ;  and,  secondly,  that  its  object  is  to  obtain, 
by  sly  and  stealthy  approaches,  a  knowledge  of  such  un- 
lawful practices  as  would  not  probably  be  reached  by  fair 
and  honorable  means.  I  do  not  say  that  you  charge,  in 
so  many  words,  premeditated  and  systematic  meanness  on 
all  college  officers,  but  this  charge  is  certainly  contained, 
by  implication,  in  your  objections  to  the  practice  under 
^consideration. 

Now,  in  what  sense,  I  ask,  is  any  natural  right  of  the 
student  invaded  by  subjecting  him  to  this  liability  to  visi- 


52  LETTEESON 

tation  ?  The  college  receives  liim  as  a  student,  only  on 
tlie  condition  that  he  consents  to  yield  \\]y  a  material  por- 
tion of  his  time  to  the  direction  of  the  authorities.  These 
authorities,  in  order  that  there  may  be  no  possible  mistake 
as  to  how  far  this  condition  extends,  and  as  to  what  they 
claim  as  their  own,  have  specified,  in  j)rinted  rules,  a  copy 
of  which  is  furnished  to  each  individual  affected  by  them, 
precisely  what  hours  of  the  twenty-four  shall  not  be  pri- 
vate to  the  student ;  but  may  be,  if  they  so  require  it 
(and  they  occasionally  do)  passed  uninterruptedly  in  their 
immediate  presence.  The  officer  who  is  to  meet  a  class  at 
a  certain  hour,  for  recitation  or  lecture,  may  require  their 
attendance  upon  him,  if  he  pleases,  during  all  the  preced- 
ing hours  of  preparation.  I  have  often  done  this.  On 
special  occasions,  I  have  been  repeatedly  requested  to  do 
it  by  the  classes  themselves.  But  in  case  this  right  is 
waived,  as  it  usually  is,  and  study  is  prosecuted  in  the  stu- 
dent's own  apartment,  the  law  recognizes  no  privacy  what- 
ever during  the  period  allotted  to  study ;  and  it  provides 
for  the  visitation  of  the  rooms,  as  a  practical  standing  asser- 
tion of  the  fact  that  his  time  is  in  no  sense  T^^hatever  the 
property  of  himself,  but  that  it  belongs  to  the  authorities 
to  dispose  of,  absolutely  as  they  j^lease.  Beyond  these 
hours,  thus  set  apart  for  university  pur230ses,  the  system 
of  visitation  does  not  extend;  and,  in  modern  colleges, 
never  has  extended.  Out  of  this  time,  so  long  as  no  dis- 
order occurs  to  require  interposition,  the  privacy  of  the 
dormitories  is  as  much  respected  by  the  authorities,  as 
that  of  the  Grand  Turk's  seraglio  by  all  good  Musselmans. 
Now,  here  you  have  the  whole  system  in  a  nutshell — 


COLLEGE      GOVEKNMENT.  53 

its  original  design  and  its  basis  of  riglit  and  reason.  Con- 
sidered from  tliis  point  of  view,  wliat  can  you  find  in  it 
exceptionable  ?  Nevertheless,  I  am  sure  that  the  officers 
of  colleges — those  of  this  college  at  least — are  not  tena- 
cious of  this  practice.  They  would  be  willing  to  abolish 
it  to-morrow,  if  they  were  not  convinced  that  the  students 
would  never  be  permanently  contented  under  such  a 
change.  This  doubtless  will  sur2:)rise  you,  and  you  will 
beg  leave  to  record  your  emphatic  dissent ;  but  we  Icnov: 
what  we  say,  because  we  have  tried  the  experiment.  For 
a  year  or  two — I  am  unable  to  say  how  long — while  our 
numbers  were  fewer  than  they  have  since  been,  we  prac- 
ticed no  visitation.  We  resumed  the  practice  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  students  themselves.  Those  who  desired  to 
study,  and  these  are  always  a  majority,  found  their  j)^- 
vacy  so  encroached  upon  by  those  who  did  not,  as  seri- 
ously to  annoy  them,  and  obstruct  the  prosecution  of  their 
regular  pursuits.  The  nuisance  continued  to  grow,  with 
growing  numbers,  until  it  became  intolerable ;  and  the  re- 
sult was  what  I  have  stated.  And  so  I  do  not  doubt  that 
it  would  be  again,  were  we  to  discontinue  the  practice 
once  more.  I  do  not  suppose  that  the  evil  would  instanta- 
neously reappear.  Habits  of  lounging  from  room  to  room 
-and  wasting  tinie  in  profitless  trivialities,  do  not  grow  up 
in  a  day ;  but  that  they  will  grow  up,  where  there  is  no 
<iheck  to  prevent  their  development,  in  the  midst  of  any 
community  embracing  a  hundred  or  two  of  young  men 
brought  together  at  random,  I  believe  to  be  as  certain  as 
that  human  nature  always  remains  the  same.  The  check 
afforded  by  the  system  of  visitation  is  slight.  •  It  creates 

5 


54:  L  E  T  T  E  K  S       O  N 

only  a  liability  on  the  part  of  individuals  to  be  found, 
more  or  less  frequently,  inattentive  to  tlieir  own  proper 
business,  and  interrupting  tlieir  neiglibors  in  the  prosecu- 
tion of  theirs ;  but  while  it  is  inadequate  to  the  complete 
prevention  of  such  irregularities,  as  every  plan  short  of 
constant  supervision  must  be,  it  is  efficient  enough  to  pre- 
vent their  becoming  excessive.  Still,  I  repeat,  the  Fac- 
ulty of  this  institution  regard  the  system  of  visitation  so 
much  more  in  the  light  of  a  favor  shown  to  the  students, 
than  in  that  of  an  oppressive  molestation,  that,  I  have  no 
question  at  all,  they  would  abolish  it  without  hesitation, 
were  the  majority  of  the  fathers  who  have  sons  here,  or 
even  of  the  sons  themselves  after  carefully  considering 
the  subject  on  all  sides,  to  desire  it. 

Your  second  objection,  I  am  disposed  to  believe,  you 
will,  upon  reflection,  retract.  I  know  that  it  is  not  very 
uncommon  for  young  men,  when  under  the  influence  of 
excitement  caused  by  some  act  of  college  discipline,  to  say 
things  very  disparaging  to  those  whose  only  fault  is,  that, 
often  with  pain  to  themselves,  they  have  faithfully  dis- 
charged their  duty ;  butsurely,  a  gentleman  who  knows  the 
world  so  well  as  the  editor  of  the  "  Kegister,"  cannot  for 
a  moment  believe  that  an  individual  fit  to  occupy  the  dis- 
tinguished post  of  a  professor  of  elegant  letters  or  of  the 
liberal  arts,  would  be  capable  of  practices  which  would 
make  him  unworthy  to  share  the  society  of  honorable 
men.  U2:)on  this  objection  I  shall  therefore  dwell  no  lon- 
ger than  to  express  my  regret,  that  imputations  which 
may  easily  be  pardoned  to  hasty  and  inconsiderate  youth, 
prompted  by  excited  feeling,  should  have  found  a  place  in 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  OO 

a  journal,  so  widely  circulated  and  so  influential  as  the 
"  Register." 

In  dismissing  this  topic,  I  would  remark,  that  the  duty 
of  official  visitation,  necessary  as  under  the  existing  col- 
lege system  it  seems  to  be,  is  one  which  peculiarly  tests 
some  of  those  qualities  of  the  college  officer  of  which  I 
made  mention  in  my  last  communication,  and  especially 
those  which  relate  to  manner.  Consideration  for  the  stu- 
dent's necessary  occupation  will  not  ordinarily  admit  of 
more  than  a  moment's  delay  during  the  visit  to  each 
room ;  and  the  extent  of  the  roimd  to  be  made  admon- 
ishes the  visitor  that  he  must  economize  his  own  time. 
The  brevity  of  the  call,  therefore,  adds  something  to  that 
tendency  to  stiffness  which  the  consciousness  of  its  official 
character  is  apt  to  impart  to  it.  He  who  can  discharge 
this  duty  so  as  invariably  to  give  and  receive  pleasure  at 
every  repetition  of  it,  must  be  considered  to  possess  a  tem- 
perament peculiarly  adapted  to  the  position  he  occupies. 
Yet  the  thing  is  not  impossible.  I  have  known  it  to  be 
true  of  men  who  have  been  subjected  to  the  test  for 
years ;  and  this  I  regard  as  an  additional  evidence  that 
the  system,  however  unlovely  may  be  the  colors  in  which 
you  have  painted  it,  is  not  in  itself  necessarily  odious. 

One  additional  remark  in  conclusion.  While  speaking 
of  official  visitation,  I  would  express  my  belief  that,  if 
there  were  more  unofficial  visiting  between  officers  and 
students  than  usually  takes  place  in  our  colleges,  the  effect 
would  be  eminently  beneficial.  Let  there  be  moments 
when  the  artificial  relations  of  instructor  and  pupil  shall 
be  forgotten,  or  at  least  by  common  consent  kept  out  of 


56  L  E  T  T  E  E  S       O  N 

sight ;  and  tliere  cannot  fail  to  grow  up  a  feeling  of  kindly 
personal  interest  between  the  parties,  of  wonderful  efficacy 
in  promoting  the  harmony  and  happiness  of  the  entire 
community.  On  the  part  of  officers,  it  is  often  difficult,  or  \ 
even  impossible,  to  do  in  this  way  so  much  as  they  would ; 
both  because  of  the  pressure  of  burthens  public  and  pri- 
vate on  their  hands,  and  because  of  the  large  number  of  ' 
the  young  men  between  whom  their  attention  must  be 
divided ;  but  they  ought  to  invite  and  encourage  the  vis- 
its of  students  to  themselves,  so  far  as  their  engagements 
will  allow ;  and  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying,  that  they 
should  reciprocate  such  visits  whenever  it  may  be  in  their 
power.  It  is  my  candid  opinion  that  all  the  laws  which 
were  ever  enacted  for  the  good  government  of  colleges, 
are  weak  and  nugatory,  compared  with  that  boundless 
moral  influence  which  it  is  possible  for  the  individual  offi- 
cer to  acquire,  by  winning  the  affections,  instead  of  oper- 
ating on  the  fears,  of  those  whom  he  instructs.  Perhaps 
there  is  no  sins^le  means  more  effectual  towards  the  accom- 
plishment  of  this  desirable  end,  than  that  he  should  mani- 
fest a  prompt  willingness  to  meet  and  reciprocate  with 
them  all  the  ordinary  courtesies  of  life,  in  a  spirit  and  with 
a  manner  which  shall  show  that  they  are  something  more 
than  empty  forms.  I 

Univei'sity  of  Alabama^  Aug.  8,  1854.  ' 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  o7 


I  LETTER     VII, 

NO  VINDICATIOX  OF  THE  EXISTING  SYSTEM  OF  COLLEGE  GOVERNMENT  CAN 
BE  UNIVERSALLY  SATISFACTORY  ;  BECAUSE,  FIRST,  NO  SYSTEM  CAN  BE 
EQUALLY  SUITED  TO  STUDENTS  OF  EVERY  AGE  ;  AND,  SECONDLY,  THE 
POPULAR  IDEA  OF  THE  COLLEGE  STUDENT  IS  DRAWN  FROM  THE  CLASS 
WHO    NEED    LEAST    TO    BE    GOVERNED. 

I  HAVE  examined  those  features  of  the  system  of  gov- 
ernment common  to  the  colleges  of  this  country,  which 
have  been  made  especially  the  subjects  of  your  strictures. 
If  I  have  not  removed  your  objections  to  them,  I  have  at 
least  shown  that  they  may  be  plausibly  defended.  I 
think  I  have  shown  that,  so  long  as  colleges  are  organized 
on  the  existing  general  plan,  these  features  present  noth- 
ing unreasonable ; .  perhaps  I  may  say,  nothing  unneces- 
sary. 

Now,  were  I  to  examine  every  other  regulation  con- 
nected with  the  government  and  discipline  of  colleges  to 
which  exception  has  been  taken  in  any  quarter,  and  were 
I  to  detail  with  like  minuteness  the  reasons  which  have 
led  to  the  introduction  of  each  into  the  code  of  college 
law,  I  have  no  doubt  that  I  should  be  able  to  make  as 
good  a  case  in  every  instance,  as  I  have  done  in  the  one  or 
two  I  have  considered.  I  ought  to  be  able  to  do  so,  for 
these  regulations  have  not  been  the  creation  of  a  day,  of  a 
year,  or  even  of  a  century.  They  rest  upon  no  foundation 
of  mere  opinion  or  judgment — not  even  upon  the  opinions 


58  LETTEESON 

or  judgments,  uucorrected  by  ex23erience,  of  tlie  wisest 
men ;  but  tliey  are  results  wrought  out  by  actual  experi- 
ment, and  by  tlie  comparison  of  different  methods  during 
the  course  of  several  centuries. 

Yet  after  all,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  most  unan- 
swerable vindication  of  the  existing  system  of  college  gov- 
ernment, leaves  upon  the  minds  of  many,  an  unsatisfied 
impression,  and  that  the  reply  will  continually  recur — 
"  But  you  offend  the  self-esteem,  you  mortify  the  pride  of 
character,  you  wound  the  innate  feeling  of  personal  dig- 
nity, in  a  sensitive  young  man,  by  subjecting  him  to  a 
code  of  regulations  fit  only  for  the  government  of  boys." 
True,  we  do  this ;  if  a  young  man,  whose  maturity  of 
years  and  fixedness  of  principle  enable  him  to  be  a  law  to 
himself,  chooses,  on  joining  our  community,  to  regard  our 
system  of  law  as  having  been  established  expressly  for 
him.  But  it  is  not  for  such  that  we  legislate ;  nor  is  it 
just  to  denounce  our  rules  as  oppressive,  because  there  ar 
some  individuals  for  whom  they  are  unnecessary.  The 
difficulty  is  to  induce  the  public — even  the  most  sensible 
part  of  the  public — to  reflect,  that  all  laws  must  be  made 
to  meet  the  cases  of  those  who  most  need  restraint,  and 
not  of  those  who  need  it  least. 

I  have  already,  in  a  former  letter,  mentioned  the  fact 
that  the  individual  students  who  become  subiects  of  col 
lege  discipline,  are  almost  invariably  boys.  Our  rules 
allow  us  to  receive  candidates  for  admission  at  the  early 
age  of  fourteen ;  and  very  many  enter  below  sixteen.  On 
the  other  hand,  not  a  few  have  attained,  or  nearly 
attained,  their  majority,  before  becoming  members  of  col- 


i 


COLLEGE      GOVEENMENT.  59 

lege ;  and  tlie  consequence  is,  tliat  we  liave  a  community 
very  heterogeneous  in  character,  very  unequal  in  power 
•of  self-command,  very  widely  different  in  degree  of  manli- 
ness, very  unfit  to  be  all  subjected  to  the  same  uniform 
regimen.  In  the  younger  classes  we  find  usually  a  major- 
ity who  have  come  directly  from  the  schools,  where  their 
conduct  has  been  subjected  to  the  restraint  of  immediate 
and  constant  supervision.  Such,  even  if  they  possess  the 
power  have  not  yet  acquired  the  habit  of  self-control; 
and  the  almost  irresistible  propensity  of  juvenile  nature 
to  avail  itself  without  consideration  of  every  accidental 
opportunity  to  give  way  to  frolic  mirthfulness,  on  the 
slightest  relaxation  of  the  severe  vigilance  of  school  super- 
vision, is  carried  into  the  college,  and  is  not  laid  aside 
until  familiarity  with  freedom  neutralizes  the  temptation 
to  extravagance.  Life  in  college,  indeed,  very  rapidly 
transforms  the  boy  into  the  man.  In  such  communities, 
especially  where  the  numbers  are  large,  the  members  of 
the  several  classes  are  almost  as  clearly  distinguished  from 
each  other  by  outward  signs  of  manner  and  deportment, 
as  by  reference  to  the  official  register;  and  acts  of  thought- 
less frivolity,  which  in  the  earlier  years  are  by  no  means 
rare,  become  almost  unknown  to  the  later. 

It  is  a  very  great  disadvantage  of  college  govern- 
ment, that  it  can  provide  but  one  system  of  discipline 
for  all  variety  of  subjects;  and  that  consequently,  the 
stringent  system  which  the  more  volatile — those  in  whom 
the  boy  spirit  still  predominates — require,  is  felt  to  be 
unreasonably  oppressive  and  galling  by  the  graver  class 
who  disdain  even  the  suspicion  of  puerility.     The  popular 


60  LETTERSON 

idea  of  tlie  college  student  is  drawn  mucli  more  from  the 
latter  class  than  from  tlie  former;  and,  lience,  such,  stric- 
tures as  those  of  the  "  Register "  upon  the  visitation  of 
rooms,  carry  with  them  an  appearance  of  weight  and  rea- 
son which  they  would  hardly  possess  were  it  remembered, 
that  this  system  does  not  exist  for  the  supervision  and  re- 
straint of  those  who  need  no  restraint,  but  on  account  of 
those  others  who  do  need  it,  yet  cannot  possibly  be  sepa- 
rately reached.  And  the  same  might  be  said  of  nine  out 
of  ten  of  the  rules  existing  in  colleges  for  the  regulation 
of  the  student's  conduct. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that,  while  the  popular  idea  of  the 
college  student  at  the  present  day  invests  him  very  much 
with  the  character  of  a  man — though  many  individual 
students  are  in  fact  but  boys, — in  the  early  history  of  col- 
leges, both  in  this  country  and  abroad,  the  case  was  com- 
pletely the  reverse,  and  the  college  or  university  student 
was  looked  upon  and  treated  as  a  mere  school-boy.  It 
was  this  fact,  indeed,  which,  if  it  did  not  determine  the 
erection  of  colleges  and  halls  in  the  universities,  at  least 
suggested  the  form  of  their  organization.  The  Universi- 
ties of  England  taught  only,  and  assumed  no  res]3onsibility 
for  the  deportment  or  morals  of  the  students.  The  lectu- 
rers— ultimately  styled  professors — did  nothing,  and  do 
nothing  to  this  day,  but  lecture ;  they  heard  no  recapitu- 
lations of  the  subjects  by  the  students — that  is,  no  recita- 
tions. But  boy  learners  require  both  moral  control  and 
mental  drilling.  The  colleges  and  halls  were  erected  ta 
subserve  both  these  purposes.  In  these  establishments- 
the  students  were  boarded,  lodged,  and  kept  under  close 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  61 

supervision.  They  were  each  governed  by  a  master, 
assisted  "by  one  or  more  tutors  as  necessity  might  require. 
It  was  the  }3usiness  of  the  tutor  to  see  that  the  youths 
duly  attended  the  lectures,  and  to  interrogate  them  upon 
what  they  heard — that  is,  to  hear  them  recite.  It  was 
also  his  business  to  give  them  religious  instruction,  and  to 
"  do  all  that  in  him  lay  to  render  them  comformable  to 
the  Churcb  of  England."  In  addition  to  this,  he  had  the 
further  rather  troublesome  charge  of  ^'  containing  his  pu- 
pils within  statutory  regulations  in  matters  of  external 
appearance,  such  as  their  clothes,  boots,  and  hair,"  with 
the  somewhat  unpleasant  liability,  in  case  his  unmanage- 
able urchins  evaded  his  vigilance,  expressed  in  the  follow- 
ing clause — "  Which  if  the  pupils  are  found  to  transgress, 
the  tutor,  for  the  first,  second,  and  third  offense,  shall  for- 
feit six  and  eight  ]3ence,  and  for  the  fourth,  shall  be  inter- 
dicted from  his  tutorial  functions."'"  Corporal  punish- 
ment was  inflicted,  says  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  in  the  English 
Universities,  so  late  as  the  time  of  Milton.  The  same 
appears  to  have  been  true  in  the  early  years  of  Harvard 
and  Yale,  in  this  country.  Down  to  the  commencement 
of  the  present  century,  the  fagging  system  survived  in 
both  those  colleges — a  system  which  rendered  the  stu- 
dent, during  his  freshman  year,  the  drudge  of  his  fellow- 
students  above  him ;  and  to  quite  as  late  a  jDeriod,  the 
whole  body  of  the  students  were  com]3elled  to  observances 
towards  the  college  officers,  which  would  now  be  held  to 
be  degrading,  and  could  only  then  consist  with  the  idea 


*  Sir  William  Hamilton's  Discussions  on  Philosophy. 


62  L  E  T  T  E  K  S       O  X 

that  the  student  is  a  mere  school-boy.  In  those  primitive 
days,  nice  questions  of  casuistry,  as  to  how  far  a  student 
may  or  may  not,  by  his  testimony,  rightfully  or  honorably 
criminate  his  fellow,  were  unknown ;  but  the  youth  who 
refused  to  testify — if  that  phenomenon  ever  occurred — 
was  neither  remonstrated  with  nor  dismissed,  but  simply, 
I  suppose,  "  licked  !"  However,  we  have  changed  all 
that,  and  very  propei'ly ;  but  so  far  has  the  change  gone, 
at  the  present  day,  that  nearly  all  attempts  on  the  part  of 
college  Faculties  to  use  coercion  of  any  kind,  if  not  re- 
sisted in  limine^  are  at  least  met  with  remonstrance  and 
complaint. 

From  the  foregoing  statements,  it  is  apparent  that  the 
American  colleo;es  have  assumed  to  themselves  the  dou- 
ble  duty,  which,  some  centuries  ago  in  England,  was 
divided  between  college  and  University — the  duty  of 
instruction  and  that  of  government.  It  is  true  that  the 
English  colleges  have  done  the  same  at  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge, by  that  gradual  and  systematic  usurpation  by 
which  the  tutor  has  supplanted  the  professor  in  his  func- 
tions, and  by  which  the  college  has  substantially  super- 
seded the  University.  But  in  undertaking  this  two-fold 
responsibility  in  this  country,  we  have  failed  as  I  have 
heretofore  shown,  to  copy  from  our  models  the  devices 
by  which  they  secure  the  ability  to  discharge  it.  Our 
college  officers  neither  live  in  the  same  building  nor  eat 
at  the  same  table  with  the  students,  nor  are  the  premises 
shut  in  by  walls,  or  secured  by  locks  and  bolts.  In 
the  absence  of  these  material  safeguards,  we  have  spun 
around  our  collesjes  a  cob-web  of  words ;  instead  of  imme- 


COLLEGE      a  O  T  E  R  N  M  E  N  T  .  63 

diate  and  constant  supervision,  we  have  substituted  law ; 
instead  of  bolts  and  bars,  we  have  invoked  penalties; 
instead  of  substantial  stone  and  mortar,  we  have  built  our 
reliance  uj^on  a  barricade  of  paper.  What  wonder  that 
the  merest  breath  sometimes  bears  down  the  barrier 
before  it ! 

University  of  Alalama^  -^^^^-  10,  1854. 


64:  LETTERS       ON 


LETTER     VIII. 


AMERICAN    COLLEGES  ASSUME  TOO  GREAT  A  RESPONSIBILITY. THE    COLLEGE 

SYSTEM    OF    THE    COUNTRY,  CONSIDERED    AS  A  SI 
ING,    IS    A    FAILURE. IS    THERE    ANY    REMEDY  ? 


SYSTEM    OF    THE    COUNTRY,  CONSIDERED    AS  A  SYSTEM    OF    MORAL    TRAIN- 


Though  as  yet  I  have  not  explicitly  stated  what  I 
believe  to  be  the  defect  of  our  present  college  system,  out 
of  which,  in  spite  of  all  the  prudence,  caution,  and  fore- 
sight of  the  wisest  officers,  we  may  fairly  expect  trouble 
more  or  less  frequently  to  arise,  my  last  letter,  I  presume, 
can  have  left  little  doubt  as  to  my  impressions  u2)on  that 
point.  But,  as  I  wish  to  be  distinctly  understood,  I  shall 
not  leave  my  opinion  to  be  a  mere  matter  of  infer- 
ence. The  simple  truth  is  here — Aonerican  colleges- 
assume  a  resjyonsibility  ivliicJi  tliey  liave  not  the  ])oiver  ade- 
quately to  disclgirge.  They  undertake  not  merely  to  train 
the  mind  and  inform  the  understandino-,  but  also  to  resfu- 
late  the  conduct  and  protect  the  morals.  This  great 
weight  of  responsibility  was  without  doubt  originally 
incurred  in  full  view  of  its  magnitude,  and  of  deliberate 
purpose ;  but  it  was  not  incurred  without  a  careful  pro- 
vision of  the  means  which  might  render  its  fulfillment  a 
possibility.  In  its  origin,  the  college  was  strictly  a  fam- 
ily, and  its  government  was  a  parental  despotism.  Con- 
stant and  immediate  supervision,  locks,  bolts,  and  bars^ 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  65 

and  obligatory  observances  whicli  would  now  be  called 
degrading,  stood,  as  I  liave  sliown,  in  place  of  our  cobweb 
laws;  and  for  penalties,  tliere  were  personal  restraint, 
privation  of  enjoyments,  cumulation  of  tasks,  and  even 
that  terror  of  cliildliood,  tlie  rod  itself.  The  system,  in 
its  inception,  was  evidently  designed  for  boys  and  none 
else ;  though  it  must  be  confessed  that,  at  that  primitive 
period,  not  only  did  boyhood  cover  a  much  larger  space 
in  human  life  than  it  does  at  present,  but  all  ages  sub- 
mitted without  murmuring  to  restraints  which  would  not 
now  be  tolerated  for  a  moment.  Holmes,  in  three  lines, 
gives  us  a  happy  idea  of  the  state  of  things  existing  in 
those  days: 

"The  people  were  not  democrats  then, 
They  did  not  talk  of  the  rights  of  men, 
And  all  that  sort  of  thing." 

Sir  AVilliam  Hamilton  tells  us  that  colleges  and  halls 
for  lay  students  were  created  "  in  imitation  of  the  Hos- 
intia  which  the  religious  orders  established  in  the  univer- 
sity towns,  for  those  of  their  members  who  were  attracted, 
as  teachers  or  learners,  to  those  places  of  literary  resort." 
It  does  not  appear  that,  in  the  original  design  of  the 
universities  of  Europe,  whether  British  or  continental, 
any  control  of  the  conduct  or  regulation  of  the  morals  of 
the  students  was  contemplated  at  all.  The  researches  of 
the  writer  just  cited,  make  it  evident  that  the  exposures 
were  very  peculiar,  which  rendered  the  institution  of  some 
moral  safeguards  necessary.  When  we  consider  what  pre- 
cisely were  these  exposures,  as  they  are  described  in  an 
extract  from  the  Cardinal  de  Vitry,  which  Sir  William 


06  LETTEESON 

quotes  but  does  not  venture  to  translate,  we  cannot  with- 
out a  smile  endeavor  to  imagine  tlie  lioly  horror  with 
which  those  respectable  ecclesiastics  who  founded  the  col- 
leges of  Paris,  must  have  regarded  a  proposition  to  give 
to  them  such  a  constitution  as  that  of  Yale,  or  Harvard, 
or  Princeton,  or  the  University  of  Alabama.  In  the  view 
of  those  men,  this  constitution  could  not  but  have  ren- 
dered these  exposures  tenfold  more  dangerous.  In  pro- 
fessino-  to  throw^  up  moral  defenses  around  the  youth 
committed  to  their  charge,  they  aimed  at  realities  and  not 
at  shadows ;  in  place  of  empty  prohibitions,  they  erected 
physical  barriers;  and  they  provided  against  transgres- 
sion by  the  simple  expedient  of  rendering  it  impossible. 
It  is  no  part  of  my  business  to  prove  that  they  did  not 
err  in  one  direction  as  wddely  as  we  do  in  the  other ;  it  is 
enough  that  I  show,  that,  having  a  definite  object  in  view, 
they  adopted  means  to  accomplish  it ;  w^hile  w^e,  with  the 
same  object,  adopt  next  to  none  at  all.  We  have  aban- 
doned supervision — we  have  discarded  the  family  arrange- 
j^ent — we  have  given  up  the  college  cloisters  to  the 
almost  exclusive  control  of  their  juvenile  occupants.  No 
Cerberus  in  the  form  of  a  janitor  guards  the  college  gates 

no  blank,  uncompromising  wall  shuts  in  the  academic 

court — no  "fat  professor  or  lean  and  ghostly  tutor"  (I 
think  I  quote  you  correctly)  glides  along  the  passages- 
no  shooting-bolt,  as  tolls  the  college  curfew,  obstructs  all 
further  commerce  with  the  external  world.  In  place  of 
all  these  securities,  we  have  introduced  a  single  substi- 
tute :  it  is  law  ;  and  it  has  failed.  I  do  not  find  especially 
the  evidence  of  this  failure  in  acts  of  insubordination,  of 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  67 

whicli — of  sucli  at  least  as  are  serious — tlie  occurrence  is 
after  all  but  rare ;  but  I  find,  in  my  own  personal  experi- 
ence as  a  student,  and  in  my  observation  both  as  a  stu- 
dent and  as  an  officer,  conclusive  proof  tliat  the  system  of 
government  existing  in  American  colleges,  considered  as 
a  system  of  moral  restraint,  is  all  but  worthless.  My  own 
convictions  would  justify  me  in  using  even  stronger  lan- 
guage than  this.  To  me  it  has  all  the  character  of  an 
ascertained  fact,  a  matter  of  immediate  knowledge  and 
not  of  inference  or  information,  that  initiation  into  the 
charmed  collegial  circle  is,  morally,  rather  a  release  from 
old  restraints,  than  an  imposition  of  new  ones.  The  pub- 
lic eye  no  longer  rests  upon  the  neophyte  ;  public  opinion 
no  longer  encourages,  intimidates,  or  guides  him ;  he  is, 
except  for  flagrant  crime,  substantially  absolved  from  alle- 
giance to  the  laws  of  the  land ;  and,  between  him  and  the 
only  authority  which  he  does  acknowledge,  is  interposed 
that  unwritten  "  higher  law  "  of  colleges,  the  law  of  the 
BurscJienscliaft^  which  enables  him  to  defy  investigation, 
and  baffle  inquiry. 

Is  it  reasonable  to  expect  good  to  grow  out  of  a  sys- 
tem like  this  ?  And  if  ti^oung  men  emerge  spotless  from 
the  ordeal  of  a  college  life,  is  it  not  plain  that  they  do  so, 
not  in  consequence  of  the  system,  but  in  sj^ite  of  it  ?  Vice 
and  crime  would  be  unknown  but  for  temptation ;  temp- 
tation would  usually  be  powerless  but  for  opportunity. 
Youthful  passions  rarely  fail  to  find  the  first ;  the  Ameri- 
can college  system  furnishes  the  second  in  its  amplest 
form. 

This  system  also,  is  such  as  to  open  to  evil  example  a 


68  L  E  T  T  E  K  S       O  N 

field  for  tlie  most  powerfully  pernicious  influence.  If 
Satan,  in  liis  fall,  drew  after  him  a  third  part  of  the  host 
of  Heaven,  much  more  is  it  to  be  expected  that  one  of  his 
ministers  on  earth  may  lead  astray  no  small  proportion  of 
a  community  of  inconsiderate  and  impulsive  young  men. 
Social  sympathy — the  feeling  of  companionship — will 
often  carry  a  youth  along,  where  his  conscience  forbids 
him  to  go.  If  he  betrays  his  scruples,  he  soon  learns  to 
blush  with  mortification  at  the  ridicule  they  excite.  What 
should  naturally  follow,  but  that  he  should  presently 
cease  to  have  a  conscience  at  all  ?  Truly  it  seems  to  me, 
that,  had  it  been  the  original  design  of  the  college  system, 
instead  of  guarding  the  morals  of  young  men,  to  expose 
them  to  danger,  and  instead  of  watching  over  them,  to 
abandon  them  to  the  protection  of  chance,  a  scheme  more 
happily  devised  to  eftect  this  object  could  not  have  been^, 
sketched  out.  It  has  maintained  its  ground  to  this  day 
through  an  unquestioning  veneration  of  antiquity,  though 
every  feature  that  recommended  it  to  the  men  of  olden 
time,  by  whose  wisdom  it  was  planned,  has  long  since 
been  abandoned.  Could  now  all  recollection  of  the  past  be 
eftaced,  and  could  the  question  b%  brought  up  before  the 
present  generation  as  one  entirely  new,  what  ought  to  be 
the  organization  of  an  institution  designed  for  the  educa- 
tion of  youth  and  the  guardianship  of  their  onorals^  I  have 
not  the  least  idea  that  the  system  now  so  all  but  univer- 
sally prevalent  would  obtain  the  vote  of  a  single  man  of 
sense  in  the  entire  civilized  world. 

Is  there  any  remedy  ?     Certainly  there  is.     It  would 
be  a  remedy — not  one  perhaps  accordant  with  the  S2:)irit 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  69 

of  tlie  age,  nor  likely  to  prove  economical,  but  a  remedy, 
nevertheless — to  return  to  the  system  of  the  English 
schools  of  learning,  as  it  existed  down  to  the  eighteenth 
century,  to  revive  the  distinction  between  University  and 
College,  to  separate  the  business  of  mental  culture  from 
that  of  moral  training,  and  to  re-establish  the  wide  differ- 
ence between  the  functions  of  professor  and  tutor.  Un- 
der this  system,  government,  besides  being  rendered  effec- 
tual by  all  the  expedients  I  have  specified,  might  be 
divided  with  us,  as  it  was  (and  is  yet)  at  Oxford  and 
Cambridge,  between  many  Colleges  and  Halls,  and  in- 
struction could  be  given  for  the  whole  by  a  single  corps 
of  Professors,  constituting  the  University  Faculties.  By 
this  subdivision  of  the  student  body,  the  difficulty  of  con- 
trolling the  whole  would  be  much  reduced.  At  Oxford, 
early  in  the  fourteenth  century,  as  Sir  William  Hamilton 
informs  us,  the  number  of  halls  and  colleges  was  about 
three  hundred ;  and  at  the  present  time,  it  is  twenty-four. 
A  recent  visitor  at  that  celebrated  seat  of  learning  informs 
us  that  no  Oxford  college  has  more  than  about  one  hun- 
dred and  forty  students,  while  some  have  as  few  as  ten. 
Since  the  total  number  of  students  in  the  University  is 
about  fifteen  hundred,  it  is  evident  that  any  difficulties 
which  may  arise  in  the  government  of  a  particular  college, 
even  though  they  should  be  aggravated  to  the  point  of 
rebellion,  could  produce  no  sensible  effect  upon  the  gen- 
eral tranquillity  of  the  University. 

In  this  country  and  in  this  age,  however,  a  variety  of 
causes  render  a  resort  to  a  remedy  like  this  entirely 
impracticable.    Every  thing  in  our  political  principles  and 

6 


TO  L  E  T  T  E  R  S      O  N 

our  federal  organization  opposes  concentration.  All  relig- 
ious denominations  stand  liere  upon  tlie  same  footing,  and 
all  of  tliem  ivill^  wlietlier  it  be  well  or  ill  for  the  cause  of 
education  in  the  end,  have  schools  and  colleges  for  the 
education  of  their  own  children,  in  the  hands  of  teachers 
of  their  own  persuasion.  Such  a  thing  as  a  privileged 
University,  like  those  of  England  and  France,  could  not 
exist  here.  And,  moreover,  the  spirit  of  the  age,  impa- 
tient as  it  is  of  restraints  even  the  most  salutary,  would 
not  sanction  the  restoration  of  the  prison-like  quadrangle 
and  the  compulsory  regularity  of  hours.  The  college 
w^ould  probably  be  deserted,  and  the  experiment  would 
fail.  It  is  hardly  necessary,  therefore,  to  superadd  the 
objection,  that  the  remedy  suggested  would  require  a 
total  reconstruction  of  all  the  college  buildings  in  the 
country. 

Is  there  no  other  remedy  ?  There  is  one  to  which, 
little  favor  as  it  may  find  at  present,  especially  with  col- 
leges which  have  invested  large  sums  in  costly  buildings, 
I  sincerely  believe  that  the  whole  country  will  come  at 
last :  it  is  to  abandon  tJie  cloister  system  entirely,  and  with 
it  the  attempt  to  do,  what  is  now  certainly  done  only  in 
pretense,  to  watch  over  the  conduct  and  protect  the 
morals  of  the  student.  I  am  aware  that  this  is  high 
ground  to  take.  Deeply  satisfied  as  I  have  been,  from 
the  day  I  became  a  freshman  in  college  to  the  present 
hour,  of  the  vast  evil  and  the  little  good  inherent  in  the 
prevalent  system  of  government  in  American  colleges,  I 
perhaps  should  not  even  yet  have  felt  emboldened  to 
speak  out  so  publicly  my  convictions,  in  the  face  of  the 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  71 

quiet  contentment  witli  wliicli  my  compeers  and  the  pub- 
lic everywhere  apparently  regard  the  existing  state  of 
things,  had  not  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  our  American 
educators  long  since  condemned  the  system  as  publicly 
and  as  decidedly  as  I  have  done,  and  upon  the  same 
grounds.  Eut  Dr.  Wayland,  though  he  exhibits  the  evils 
which  necessarily  attend  this  system,  in  a  manner  jrresisti- 
bly  conclusive,  hesitates  to  pronounce  them  sufficient  to 
call  for  or  to  justify  the  abandonment  of  buildings  already 
erected  to  serve  as  residences  for  college  students.  He 
confines  himself  to  deprecating  the  erection  of  any  more. 
I  am  disposed  to  take  one  step  further.  I  say  that  Dr. 
Wayland  himself  has  proved  the  system  to  be  so  pernic- 
ious, as  to  require  that  the  ax  should  [be  laid  directly  at 
the  root  of  it,  no  matter  what  the  expense  may  be.  But 
this  subject  requires  a  letter  to  itself. 

University  of  Alahama^  Aug.  12,  1854. 


72  LETTEKSON 


LETTER     IX. 


EVILS      OF     RESIDENCE     IX     DORMITORIES. SYNOPSIS      OF     DR.     WAYLAND  S 

VIEWS    ON    THIS    SUBJECT. 


If  I  have  dwelt  much  uj^on  the  moral  and  material 
securities  with  which  the  founders  of  the  colleges  at  the 
English  Universities  sought  to  surround  those  institutions, 
I  have  done  so  only  that  I  might  render  more  striking  by 
contrast  our  entire  deficiency  in  those  most  important 
respects.  But  I  am  by  no  means  unaware  that  all  those 
stringent  provisions  have,  by  the  entire  disregard  of  their 
original  design,  which  has  grown  out  of  modern  abuses  at 
Oxford  and  Cambridge,  become,  in  those  renowmed  seats 
of  learning,  entirely  nugatory.  I  am  aware  that,  to  an 
outside  observer  at  the  present  day,  an  English  University 
would  present  rather  the  appearance  of  an  abode  of  lux- 
ury, a  precinct  consecrated  to  physical  enjoyment,  than 
that  of  a  chosen  retreat  of  science,  or  a  habitation  of  the 
Muses.  I  draw  my  illustration  not  from  the  Oxford  of 
the  nineteenth  but  from  the  Oxford  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury ;  I  speak  of  the  usages,  not  of  the  twenty-four  stately 
palaces  of  ease  and  dissipation  which  still  exist ;  but  of 
the  three  hundred  halls,  now  nearly  all  extinct,  where,  in 
the  time  of  the  First  Edward,  thirty  thousand  youth  bowed 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  73 

their  necks  to  tlie  austere  yoke  of  monastic  rule.  In 
tliose  days,  a  wine-bibbing,  dinner-giving,  "  tandem-driv- 
ing, hunting,  steeple-chasing,  and  horse-racing"  Oxford 
student  was  unknown ;  but  it  was  no  uncommon  sjDectacle, 
according  to  Sir  James  Nore,  to  see  "the  poor  scholars  of 
Oxford  a-begging,  with  bags  and  wallets,  and  singing 
Scdve  Regina^  at  rich  men's  doors."^*  Those  were  the 
days  when  moral  restraints  in  the  Universities  of  England 
were  a  reality : — now  they  can  scarcely  be  said  any  longer 
to  exist. 

I  stated  in  my  last  letter  that  Dr.  Wayland  had 
thrown  the  weight  of  his  high  authority  in  opposition  to 
the  plan  of  providing  buildings  for  the  residence  of  stu- 
dents in  an  isolated  community,  during  their  college  life. 
What  he  has  so  well  said  I  would  not  venture  to  repeat, 
nor  to  what  he  has  said  would  I  add  a  single  word,  were 
it  possible  or  probable  that  the  persons  whom  these  let- 
ters will  reach  would  find  access  to  his  able  examination 
of  the  same  subject.  The  improbability  of  that,  justifies 
me  in  repeating  some  of  his  arguments.  In  addition  to  the 
views  which  I  have  already  presented.  Dr.  Wayland  urges 
against  the  arrangements  of  the  prevailing  system,  that 
they  are  unnatural.  They  remove  the  young  from  the 
enjoyment  and  benefit  of  family  sympathies  and  society, 
at  a  time  of  life  when  these  are  of  the  highest  value. 
They  deprive  them  of  that  watchful  attention,  in  time  of 
sickness,  and  of  that  heedful  care,  in  time  of  health,  which 
are  so  important  at  this  early  age ;  and  which  in  their  new 

*  Princeton  RevieTV,  July,  1854. 


74  LETTERSON 

position  there  will  be  none  to  bestow.  Moreover,  in  pass- 
ing from  the  family  circle  into  the  artificial  society  of  a 
college,  there  is  at  present  a  rude  and  harsh  transition 
from  a  position  in  which  they  are  sustained  and  guided 
by  the  counsel  and  solicitude  of  those  on  whom  they  are 
accustomed  to  rely,  to  one  in  which,  as  it  must  be  in  the 
great  world  at  last,  they  have  but  themselves  to  consult 
and  depend  on,  in  every  emergency.  The  transition  is 
too  abrupt  to  be  courted,  or  to  be  probably  beneficial. 

Dr.  Wayland  further  finds,  in  the  unequal  ages  of  the 
students  who  make  up  the  college  community,  a  reason 
for  objecting  to  the  cloister  system.  Small  as  is  the 
amount  of  supervision,  which  the  most  anxious  and  vigi- 
lant Faculties  can  exercise  over  young  men  so  situated,  it 
is  more  than  those  of  their  pupils  who  are  most  advanced 
in  years  require.  To  prescribe  to  such  their  times  for 
going  and  coming,  or  for  study  and  relaxation;  and  to 
subject  them  to  the  necessity,  little  less  than  mortifpng, 
of  applying  for  special  permission  to  do  even  so  simple  an 
act  as  to  call  upon  a  friend,  or  to  that  of  rendering  an  ex- 
cuse for  receiving  one  at  an  hour  not  privileged  by  the 
rules,  when  by  the  laws  of  the  land  and  the  usages  of 
society  they  are  recognized  as  capable  of  self-government, 
seems  as  unnecessary  as  it  is  aj)parently  odious.  And 
yet,  in  a  society  where  there  can  be  but  one  rule  for  all, 
such  regulations  cannot  be  dispensed  with ;  while  the 
greater  difficulty  is,  on  the  other  hand,  to  make  them 
stringent  enough  to  meet  the  case  of  those  who  have  no 
habits  of  self-government  as  yet  established  at  all.  This 
latter  class,  in  truth,  can  never  be  adequately  provided 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  75 

for  under  our  present  college  system ;  and  tlie  sooner  vre 
distinctly  and  candidly  admit  the  fact,  tlie  better.  If 
tliere  be  a  student  wlio  requires  tlie  direct  influence  and 
prompting  of  a  superior,  wliether  to  stimulate  him  to  ex- 
ertion, or  (a  rarer  case,  certainly,  but  one  not  very  uncom- 
mon) to  restrain  liim  from  too  severe  and  injurious  appli- 
cation, whether  to  aid  him  in  the  prosecution  of  his 
studies,  or  to  guide  him  in  the  selection  of  his  miscella- 
neous reading,  or  to  advise  him  in  the  choice  of  his  amuse- 
ments, or  to  warn  him  against  the  appro  ches  of  tempta- 
tion, or  to  arrest  him  in  his  first  downward  steps,  should 
he  unhappily  incline  toward  vice,  such  a  student  is  not 
conveniently  or  favorably  or  even  safely  situated  in  the 
heart  of  an  American  college,  where  no  superior,  however 
zealously  devoted  to  his  welfare,  can  know  his  habits,  his 
wants,  or  his  dangers. 

The  influence  of  our  arrangements  upon  health  is  fur- 
thermore regarded  by  Dr.  Wayland  to  be  more  or  less 
injurious.  The  compactness  of  the  community,  and  the 
confinement  of  all  the  necessary  duties  within  a  very  nar- 
row precinct,  if  they  do  not  directly  discourage  and  pre- 
vent the  bodily  exercise  so  important  to  the  full  vigor  of 
the  animal  system,  hold  out  at  least  no  inducement  to  its 
practice.  No  trivial  number  of  the  cases  in  which  stu- 
dents withdraw  from  colleges  with  impaired  health  or 
broken  constitutions,  are  cases  in  which  disease  has  been 
either  engendered,  or  at  least  aggravated,  by  neglect  of 
suitable  exercise.  The  arrangements  of  college  buildings 
afford  few  conveniences  or  comforts,  in  cases  of  sickness ; 
and  should  an  infectious  disease  make  its  appearance,  it  is 


76  LETTERSON 

difficult  if  not  impossible  to  prevent  its  spreading  through 
the  entire  community. 

In  looking  at  this  question  in  its  moral  aspects, 
Dr.  Wayland  takes  altogether  the  view  which  I  have 
already  presented.  He  enforces  his  023inion  by  one  or 
two  considerations  which  seem  to  me  to  have  a  peculiar 
importance.  In  regard  to  the  dangerous  influence  of  evil 
example,  he  observes  that  the  votaries  of  vice  are  much 
more  zealous  in  making  proselytes  than  the  devotees  of 
virtue.  No  remark  could  be  more  emphatically  or  more 
sadly  true.  There  is  apparently  a  malignant  pleasure  felt 
by  the  vile  in  marking  the  gradual  steps  by  which  the 
pure  in  heart  become  wicked  like  themselves ;  and  it  is 
with  a  sort  of  fiendish  ingenuity  that  they  invent  allure- 
ments and  ply  seductive  arts,  to  the  end  that  they  may 
ruin  where  they  profess  to  befriend.  The  unsuspicious, 
unreflecting  natures  of  ingenuous  youth,  make  them  espe- 
cially prone  to  yield  to  those  whose  greater  familiarity 
with  what  is  called  life,  but  is  in  fact  too  often  only  the 
road  to  death,  gives  them  a  seeming  superiority  and  lends 
to  their  opinions  and  their  example  a  most  mischievous 
fascination.  Some  such,  we  may  say  with  too  unfortunate 
a  certainty,  will  usually  be  found  wherever  one  or  two 
hundred  young  men  are  assembled  together  as  members 
of  the  same  community.  Some  such  will,  indeed,  have 
been  almost  unavoidably  attracted  to  our  colleges,  by  the 
peculiar  social  features  which  they  present ;  and  by  the 
undeniable  fact,  which  I  have  heretofore  illustrated,  that 
the  college  is  a  place  of  freedom  rather  than  of  restraint. 
Is  there  not  here  an  exposure  dangerous  to  every  unsophis- 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  77 

ticated  youth,  and  liable  too  often  to  beconSe  absolutely 

ruinous  ? 

It  is  -further  observed  by  Dr.  Wayland,  that  where  a 
number  of  persons  are  collected  together,  and  by  the  cir- 
cumstances of  their  association  are  disconnected  almost 
wholly  from  the  surrounding  world,  there  will  inevitably 
come  to  be  recognized  among  them  certain  peculiar  prin- 
ciples of  action,  there  will  come  to  be  received  certain 
peculiar  convictions  of  duty,  which  are  not  elsewhere  rec- 
ognized, but  derive  their  character  from  that  of  the  com- 
munity among  whom  they  originate.     So  striking  an  illus- 
tration of  this  truth  has  been  presented  in  the  discussion 
which  occupied  the  earlier  letters  of  the  present  series, 
that  I  consider  any  further  explanation  of  the  meaning  of 
the  foregoing  proposition  unnecessary.     It  is  sufficient  to 
say  that,  in  the  college  code,  the  highest  honor  is  not 
bestowed  upon  that  which  is  good  and  right;  nor  the 
sternest  disapprobation  awarded  to  that  which  is  bad  and 
wrong.     To  be  gentlemanly,  is  better  than  to  be  moral ; 
to  be  generous,  is  better  than  to  be  just.    It  is  much  to  be 
doubted  whether  a  protracted  residence  in  a  moral  atmos- 
phere, characterized  by  the  prevalence  of  doctrines  like 
these,  can  exert  a  healthy  influence  upon  the  character ; 
or  whether  the  usages  to  which  it  familiarizes  the  youth 
are  such  as  to  render  the  man  either  better  or  happier. 

Dr.  Wayland  does  not  forget  to  glance  at  the  preju- 
dicial effect  which  the  long-continued  intercourse  of  young 
men,  exclusively  or  nearly  so,  with  each  other,  cannot  fail 
to  exert  upon  their  manners ;  to  which  I  might  add  the 
tendency,  so  constantly  noticed  that  I  suppose  it  must  be 


78  LETTEKSON 

esteemed  inevitable,  of  tlie  language  of  their  conversation, 
under  similar  circumstances,  to  degenerate  into  rudeness, 
or  something  even  worse.  That  men  will  be  rude,  that 
they  will  be  vulgar,  occasionally,  without  having  these 
propensities  developed  and  nourished  in  them  by  any  spe- 
cies of  hot-house  culture,  and  in  spite  of  all  the  purifying 
influences  of  the  best  society,  I  am  well  aware ;  but  that 
is  no  reason  why,  without  any  manifest  necessity,  we 
should  expose  all  our  young  men  who  asj)ire  to  a  high 
order  'of  education,  to  an  influence  which  can  hardly  fail 
to  blunt,  to  some  extent  at  least,  their  native  delicacy,  or 
vitiate  their  sense  of  what  constitutes  true  politeness. 

While  thus  every  argument  derived  from  the  fitness 
of  things,  and  from  considerations  of  health,  of  morals,  and 
of  manners,  seems  directly  to  condemn  the  college  cloister 
system  prevalent  in  this  country,  hardly,  I  think,  on  the 
other  hand,  will  a  single  substantial  advantage  be  found 
to  recommend  it.  That  it  is  cheaper  to  the  student,  Dr. 
Wayland  has,  in  my  opinion,  satisfactorily  disj)roved. 
That  it  is  immensely  more  expensive  to  the  public  at 
large,  where  colleges  are  created  and  sustained  by  their 
munificence,  he  has  made  equally  evident.  Indeed,  where 
money  to  the  amount  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  or 
more,  has,  in  a  single  institution,  been  invested  in  dormi- 
tories alone,  and  where,  as  in  the  University  of  Alabama, 
not  one  single  dollar  of  revenue  is  derived  from  this 
investment,  in  the  way  of  rent  or  otherwise,  it  requires  no 
argument  to  show  that,  if  the  dormitories  are  unnecessary, 
all  this  is  a  dead  loss.  In  our  own  ]3articular  case,  it  is 
worse  than  a  dead  loss ;  for  not  only  do  these  buildings 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  79 

return  no  income  to  the  treasury,  but  tliey  keep  up  a  con- 
tinued drain  upon  it,  to  tlie  extent  of  several  hundred 
dollars  per  annum,  to  preserve  them  in  decent  repair,  and 
in  tolerably  habitable  condition.  Is  there  a  single  plausi- 
ble reason  to  be  urged  in  favor  of  the  perpetuation  of 
such  a  system,  but  the  unfortunate  fact  that  it  cannot  now 
be  abandoned  here  without  a  heavy  pecuniary  loss  ? 

University  of  Alabama^  Aug.  15,  1854. 


80  L  E  T  T  E  K  S      O  N 


LETTER     X. 


EVILS  OF  THE    DORMITORY    SYSTEM    FURTHER   EXAMINED. ITS    TENDENCY    TO 

MAKE  THE    INTELLECTUAL    QUALIFICATIONS    OF    INSTRUCTORS    A    SECOND- 
ARY   CONSIDERATION. IS    IT    POSSIBLE    TO    ABOLISH    THE    SYSTEM  ? 


The  evils  wliicli  I  Iiave  tlius  far  considered  as  resulting 
from  tlie  system  of  residence  common  in  American  col- 
leges, are  sucli  as  j)roceed  from  tlie  direct  influences 
exerted  by  the  system  on  tlie  student  himself.  In  former 
letters  of  this  series  I  have,  however,  pointed  out  to  what 
extent  the  successful  administration  of  college  government 
is  dej)endent  upon  the  personal  character  and  disj)osition 
of  the  officers  who  conduct  it ;  yet  this  dependency,  it  is 
now  evident,  is  almost  entirely  a  consequence  of  that  pecu- 
liar organization  of  our  academic  society,  out  of  which  so 
many  other  evils  grow.  It  is  certainly  at  present  an  ur- 
gent necessity,  in  the  selection  of  persons  to  fiH  the  respon- 
sible posts  of  instructors  in  colleges,  to  give  anxious  atten- 
tion to  considerations  very  different  from  those  which 
qualify  a  man  to  impart  knowledge,  or  render  him  likely, 
by  his  reputation,  to  give  character  to  the  institution  of 
w^hich  he  becomes  a  member.  Yet  these  latter  considera- 
tions are  undeniably,  in  intrinsic  importance,  paraniount 
to  all  others.     It  is  a  simple  truism  to  say  that  to  be  a 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  81 

good  teaclier,  one  must  first  of  all  things  know  liow  to 
teach;  but  it  by  no  means  follows  that  to  be  a  successful 
college  teaclier^  the  same  qualification  will  stand  in  the 
foremost  rank  of  importance.  Profundity  of  learning, 
fluency  of  language,  fertility  of  invention,  and  felicity  of 
illustration,  are  hopelessly  buried,  so  far  as  college  useful- 
ness is  concerned,  in  one  who  possesses  not  the  art  to  con- 
ciliate, or  the  power  to  control,  or  the  faculty  to  stimulate, 
or  the  wisdom  to  advise,  those  with  whom  he  is  constantly 
in  contact  in  the  relation  of  a  moral  governor  or  guide. 
These  qualities  are  no  doubt  of  great  value  under  any  cir- 
cumstances; but  it  is  a  peculiarity  arising  out  of  the 
nature  and  magnitude  of  the  responsibility  we  are  com- 
pelled to  assume,  which  places  them,  in  colleges  organized 
as  ours  are,  so  far  above  those  intellectual  endowments 
and  acquisitions  which  we  naturally  associate  with  the 
character  of  an  able  teacher. 

It  is  very  certain  that  much  of  the  success  of  a  colle- 
giate institution,  in  the  popular  sense  of  the  word,  depends 
upon  the  consideration  in  which  its  officers  are  held,  as 
men  of  letters  and  science,  in  the  community  from  which 
it  draws  its  patronage.  There  is  no  virtue  in  vested  funds, 
or  costly  buildings,  or  legislative  grants,  or  even  in  libra- 
ries and  cabinets  and  apparatus  of  science,  however  mag- 
nificent, to  attract  to  a  particular  spot  such  multitudes  of 
interested  and  willing  learners  as  throng  some  of  the  favor- 
ite colleo^es  of  the  United  States.  N'o  allurements  which 
wealth  can  spread  out  have  power  to  draw  disciples 
around  the  academic  chairs  of  teachers  who  are  them- 
selves deficient  in  that  moral  magnetism  which  nature  only 


82  LETTEKSON 

can  bestow.  Nor  will  tliis  or  tliat  form  of  internal  organ- 
ization, or  a  more  or  less  severe  adhesion  to  any  particular 
routine  of  instruction,  to  any  important  degree  determine 
how  far  any  given  set  of  men,  in  any  given  school  of  learn- 
ing, may  be  successful  in  securing  that  evidence  of  popular 
approbation,  which  numbers  are  commonly  supposed  to 
afford. 

It  is  certainly,  then,  in  the  very  highest  degree  desira- 
ble that  in  the  selection  of  men  to  fill  the  very  responsible 
positions  of  officers  of  instruction  in  colleges,  there  should 
be  nothing  in  the  nature  of  the  duties  they  are  to  be  re- 
quired to  discharge,  which  shall  prevent  the  very  first  con- 
sideration from  being  given  to  their  mental  qualities  and 
acquisitions,  their  learning  and  their  power  of  luminous 
utterance, — qualities  which,  while  they  make  them  able 
and  successful  and  often  fascinating  in  the  lecture-room, 
render  their  names  also  household  words  in  the  dwellings 
of  the  people.  Suppose  a  board  of  governors  to  be  un- 
trammeled  by  any  considerations  such  as  these,  in  the 
choice  of  individuals  to  fill  the  chairs  which  may  become 
successively  vacant  in  a  college  under  their  control,  or  the 
new  chairs  which  they  may  create ;  suppose,  further,  that 
they  have  it  in  their  power  to  offer  a  remuneration  suffi- 
cient to  command  the  services  of  the  most  eminent  talent 
the  country  can  furnish ;  supj)ose  that  they  make  known, 
as  they  naturally  will  on  every  such  occasion  as  widely  as 
possible,  the  existence  of  the  vacancy,  and  invite  competi- 
tion from  men  of  ability,  every  where,  to  fill  it ;  they  can 
hardly,  under  these  circumstances,  fail  to  secure  not  only 
able  men,  but  men  whom  the  people  know  to  be  able. 
Such  men  will  never  be  deserted,  unless  for  men  of  greater 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  83 

presumed  ability;  and  thus  there  will  be  maintained, 
between  all  institutions  governed  by  these  principles,  an 
honorable  and  advantageous  emulation,  which  will  secure 
to  each  a  gratifying  popularity,  and  a  fair  and  encouraging 
amount  of  patronage. 

So  long,  however,  as  the  first  quality  to  be  looked 
after  in  a  college  officer  is  not  in  his  ability,  nor  his  learn- 
ing, nor  his  well-earned  reputation  as  a  man  of  letters  or 
science,  but   his  capacity  for  governing  youth,  and  for 
managing  all  the  complications  which  arise  out  of  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  internal  police  and  penal  laws  of  our 
artificial  form  of  society,  there  is  no  absolute  security  that 
the  men  selected  will  be  eminently  able,  or  that  they  will 
have  that  hold  on  the  confidence  of  the  surrounding  com- 
munity which  springs  from  an  already  established  acquaint- 
ance with  their  names  and  characters.     They  may  even 
be,  and  they  often  are,  entirely  unknown ;    and  thus,  in 
cases  of  difficulty,  they  have  to  contend  against  that  indif- 
ference in  the  public  mind  which  is  usually  felt  towards 
such  as  have  only  the  stranger's  claim  to  sympathy.     I  do 
not  forget  that  rei^utation  is  a  growth  of  time ;  and  that, 
when  a  valuable  college  officer  is  secured,  it  is  all  the  bet- 
ter that   he   is   secured   young.     But   I   much   question 
whether  an  individual  can  have  had  time  to  manifest  that 
moral  fitness  to  grapple  with  the  difficult  responsibilities 
which  a  college  officer  has  to  encounter,  and  which  is  un- 
der our  system  so  indispensable,  at  an  age  earlier  than 
that  at  which  his  intellectual  superiority,  if  he  possesses  it, 
begins  to  lift  him  above  the  level  of  common  men. 

Our  system  of  obligatory  residence,  therefore,  in  build- 


84  LETTERSON 

ings  sjDecially  erected  for  college  purposes,  involves  the 
great  evil  of  mucli  restricting  the  freedom  of  choice,  on  the 
part  of  electing  boards,  in  providing  suitable  officers  for 
the  institutions  under  their  care.  And  since  that  system 
seems  really  to  be  recommended  by  no  positive  advan- 
tages, but  to  be  open,  on  the  other  hand,  to  the  very  grave 
objections  which  I  have  endeavored  in  my  foregoing  let- 
ters to  exhibit,  we  find  in  this  last  consideration  a  forcible 
argument  in  favor  of  its  total  abolishment. 

But  suppose  this  system  of  compulsory  residence  abol- 
ished, what  is  the  alternative  ?  Let  the  students  find  their 
own  residences,  as  all  other  persons  do,  young  or  old, 
wherever  they  can,  among  the  citizens  of  the  surrounding 
community.  They  are  now  in  the  community  but  not  of 
it.  The  college  walls  present  an  impenetrable  barrier  to 
all  scrutiny  of  their  conduct  and  actions.  .  They  are  not 
subject  to  the  restraining  influences  of  public  opinion. 
One  of  the  strongest  moral  safeguards  known  to  mankind 
has  no  existence  for  s  them.  We  have  seen  that  the  pre- 
sumed surveillance  of  college  government  is  nothing  but  a 
nullity.  By  closing  our  dormitories  and  sending  back  our 
students  into  the  world,  we  abrogate  for  them  the  freedom 
of  the  microcosm,  and  re-subject  them  to  the  common 
restraints  of  society.  This  expression,  the  freedom  of  the 
microcosm,  which  drops  accidentally  from  my  j^en,  sug- 
gests, by  similarity  of  sound,  another  phrase  which  we 
sometimes  hear  in  our  metropolitan  towns — the  freedom 
of  the  city.  What  this  freedom  is,  precisely,  at  the  ])ves- 
ent  day,  I  do  not  know ;  but  it  is  now  and  then  presented, 
sometimes   with  pomp   and   ceremony,   to    the    favored 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  85 

guests  of  tlie  municipal  autliorities.  Now,  if  any  thing 
could  be  wanted  to  demonstrate  the  truth  of  what  I  have 
asserted — that  admission  into  college  is  rather  an  intro- 
duction to  freedom  than  a  subjection  to  restraints, — it  may 
be  found  in  the  fact  that  young  men  who  are  not  students 
are  sometimes,  by  their  friends  among  the  initiated,  in- 
vested with  this  freedom  also, — not  with  ceremony,  nor  by 
any  explicit  form  of  words,  but  by  being  introduced 
within  the  privileged  limits,  and  made  temporary  denizens 
of  the  charmed  circle.  Here,  secure  from  the  reach  of 
any  prying  eye  from  without,  and  unmoved  by  shadows 
which  possible  coming  "  exculpations  "  sometimes  cast  be- 
fore them  upon  the  s^^irits  of  legitimate  residents,  they 
are  ready  to  lend  their  efficient  aid  in  promoting  any  dis- 
orders which  may  incidentally  spring  up,  and  they  join 
with  especial  unction,  as  occasion  arises,  in  those  vocal  and 
tintinnabulary  performances  with  which  youth,  in  seasons 
of  excitement,  seem  to  delight  to  "  make  night  hideous." 
I  do  not  know  to  what  extent  the  officers  of  colleges  else- 
where may  have  remarked  this  evil ;  and  I  do  know  that 
in  some  places  there  is  little  congeniality  or  intercourse 
between  ''  town  and  gown ;"  but  I  have  no  idea  that  any 
college  constructed  on  the  plan  popular  in  this  country  is 
entirely  exempt  from  the  nuisance,  and  I  am  persuaded 
that  the  University  of  Alabama  has  occasionally  suffered 
from  it  deeply. 

But  when  I  propose  that  our  dormitories  shall  be 
closed,  and  our  students  shall  be  left  to  prgvide  residences 
for  themselves  among  the  citizens  of  the  neighborhood,  I 
anticipate  the  reply  that  my  remedy,  however  plausible  in 

1 


86  LETTEKSON 

theory,  will  in  many  cases,  and  notably  in  that  of  tlie  Uni- 
versity  of  Alabama,  be  impracticable.     Not  only  is  this 
institution  situated  an  entire  mile  beyond  the  corporate 
limits  of  the  city  of  Tuscaloosa,  but,  by  an  intentional  pre- 
caution of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  it  holds  the  title  to 
nearly  every  square  foot  of  land  for  at  least  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  in  every  direction  around  it;   and  thus  repels  the 
approach  of  those  who  might  be  disposed  to  build  in  its 
vicinity.     The  default  of  a  social  neighborhood  might  of 
course  be  repaired,  by  removing  this  restriction,  provided 
there  were  any  disposition  to  build ;  but  as  none  such  has 
been  manifested  hitherto,  and  none  such  is  likely  to  be 
awakened  by  any  immediately  existing  causes,  my  pro- 
posed remedy  is,  I  admit,  only  applicable  to  the  case  of 
this  University,  on  the  condition  that  the  center  of  its 
operations  be  transferred  to  the  heart  of  the  town.     The 
sacrifice  of  the  buildings  now  used  as  dormitories,  and  their 
abandonment,  if  necessary,  to  ruin,  would  be  well  repaid 
by  the  much  higher  benefits   which   would  attend   the 
change.     It  would,  in  point  of  fact,  be  no  sacrifice  at  all, 
since,  as  I  have  heretofore  stated,  these  dormitories  return 
no  income  for  the  large  investment  wrapped  up  in  them, 
but  require,  on  the  other  hand,  a  considerable  annual 
expenditure  to  keep  them  in  repair.     But  the  proposed 
removal  would  involve  a  more  serious  sacrifice  than  this. 
The  buildings  erected  to  subserve  the  purposes  of  instruc- 
tion, and  which  embrace  the  library,  the  laboratory,  the 
cabinets  of  minerals,  rocks  and  fossils,  the  lecture  rooms, 
and  all  the  rooms  for  recitations,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
dwellings  of  the  officers,  would  not  only  have  to  be  aban- 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  87 

cloned  here,  but  replaced  in  the  new  locality.  The  ques- 
tion how  far  this  consideration  must  be  regarded  as  tend- 
ing to  make  the  proposed  reform  hopeless,  I  reserve  for 
examination  hereafter. 

University  of  Alabama^  Aug.  16,  1854. 


88  LETTERS      ON 


LETTER     XI. 


EXPERIMENT    PROPOSED    FOR    THE    CASE    OF    THE    UNIVERSITY    OF     ALABAMA. 
CONSIDERATION    WHICH    SEEMS    TO    HAVE     DETERMINED    THE     CHOICE     OF 

LOCATION    FOR    MOST    OF    THE    COLLEGES     OF    THE    UNITED     STATES. ITS 

FALLACY. THE    DORMITORY    SYSTEM    WILL    BE     ABANDONED  ;      BUT     ONLY 

VERY    GRADUALLY. 

In   my   last   communication   I   maintained   tliat    the 
proper  remedy  for  most  of  tlie  evils  wliicli  attend  the 
administration  of  college  government,  and  wliicli  tend  to 
affect  injuriously  the  morals  of  the  youth  who  are  subject 
to  it,  as  well  as  indirectly  to  detract,  perhaps,  somewhat 
from  the  consideration  which  their  officers  are  likely  to 
command  from  the  public,  is  an  entire  abandonment  of 
the  cloister  or  dormitory  plan  of  residence.     I  admitted 
the  difficulty  of  doing  this  in  cases  where  the  college  is, 
like  the  University  of  Alabama,  separated  by  a  consider- 
able space  from  any  community  capable  of  furnishing  the 
accommodations  which  the  college  itself  ceases  to  supply. 
I  had  the  question  under  inquiry,  how  far  the  considera- 
tion of  the  great  sacrifice  of  property  which  must  usually 
attend  the  removal  of  such  an  institution,  though  the 
removal  should  be  but  for  a  mile  or  two,  is  likely  to  ren- 
der the  proposed  remedy  impracticable.    I  do  not  purpose 
to  hazard  any  general  decision  of  this  question,  further 
than  to  remark  that,  so  great  are  the  advantages  which 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  8D 


the  presence  of  a  school  of  large  resort  usually  brings  to 
tlie  town  in  wliicli  it  is  situated,  that  when  the  trustees  of 
a  popular  college  manifest  a  serious  disposition  to  remove 
it,  the  expenses  attendant  on  the  erection  of  new  buildings 
are  not  likely  to  fall  upon  themselves.     Be  this  as  it  may, 
the  University  of  Alabama  possesses  a  special  advantage 
lor  the  trial  of  an  experiment  of  the  kind  I  have  pro- 
posed.    It  is  not  necessary,  in  order  to  make  such  a  trial,, 
to  abandon  even  the  dormitories  at  once.     By  the  liber- 
ality of  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  the  large  and  sub- 
stantial building  formerly  occupied  as  the  State  capitol, 
has  been  made  the  property  of  the  University.     Now,  for 
several  years,  it  has  been  true,  that  the  number  of  stu- 
dents here  has  been  too  great  to  find  convenient  accom- 
modations in  the  dormitories ;  and  in  consequence  of  this 
fact,  the  Board  of  Trustees,  one  year  ago,  resolved  on  the 
erection  of  an  additional  building.     An  appropriation  was 
made  which  was  presumed  to  be  adequate,  plans  w^ere 
drawn,  specifications  prepared,  and  proposals  invited,  by 
public   advertisement,   for   the   execution   of   the   work. 
None  of  the  proposals  fell  within  the  limit  of  the  appro- 
priation, and  consequently  no  contract  was  made.     At 
their  session  in  July  last,  the  Board  were  unable,  for  want 
of  a  quorum,  to  reconsider  the  subject ;  but  the  necessity 
for  some  additional  accommodations  to  meet  the  wants  of 
the  students  is  no  less  urgent  than  it  has  been  heretofore. 
Now,  instead  of  burying  an  additional  fifteen  thousand 
dollars  by  the  side  of  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars  which  they  have  already  buried  here  in  brick  and 
mortar,  let  the  board  devote  five  thousand,  if  that  sum  be 


'OO  LETTEKSON 

necessary,  to  the  restoration  of  tlie  State-house  (an  infi- 
nitely better  building  than  the  very  best  that  stands  ujDon 
the  University  campus)  to  a  condition  fit  to  serve  for  college 
purposes ;  and  let  them  then  provide  that  the  senior  class, 
to  begin  with,  shall  attend  all  their  exercises  there.  This 
senior  class  will  of  necessity  be  obliged  to  find  lodgings  in 
town.  They  will  relieve  the  pressure  on  the  dormitories, 
which  occasionally  now  makes  those  buildings  absolutely 
unpleasant  residences ;  and  an  experiment,  on  a  limited 
scale,  of  the  advantages  arising  from  subjecting  young 
men  to  that  direct  influence  of  public  opinion  which  serves 
as  a  more  wholesome  restraint  than  any  that  a  college 
faculty  can  exercise  over  the  occupants  of  college  cloisters, 
will  be  made  without  disadvantage  to  any  one.  There 
will  be  saved,  too,  at  least  ten  thousand  dollars,  which  is 
now  in  a  fair  way  to  be  sunk  in  that  gulf  of  unprofitable 
investment,  where  so  many  kindred  thousands  have 
already  been  swallowed  up  for  ever. 

Should  the  result  of  this  exj)eriment  prove  satisfac- 
tory— and  that  it  would,  I  entertain  no  doubt  whatever — 
the  junior  class  might  next  be  transferred  to  the  city  in 
like  manner.  Should  all  the  classes  ultimately  be  re- 
moved— and  whether  they  would  or  not  I  believe  would 
depend  upon  the  manner  in  which  the  demand  for  lodg- 
inecs  should  be  met  in  town — it  would  matter  little  what 
should  become  of  the  buildings  standing  on  the  college 
campus.  For  every  purpose  connected  with  instruction, 
the  State-house,  in  its  transformed  condition,  would  pre- 
sent amjDle  accommodations  and  facilities ;  and,  remarka- 
ble as  the  fact  may  seem,  it  would  furnish  to  the  library 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  91 

and  to  all  the  departments  of  physical  science  except 
astronomy,  vastly  more  suitaUe  and  more  convenient 
accommodations  than  any  which  can  be  found  in  the  build- 
ings on  the  University  grounds,  and  loliicli  vjere  erected 
^jpecicdly  for  the  jpurposes  to  which  they  are  devoted.  This 
is  one  of  the  happy  results  of  employing  men  to  build  for 
special  purposes  who  do  not  understand  the  purposes  for 
which  they  build. 

Here,  then,  for  the  case  of  the  University  of  Alabama, 
I  offer  a  definite  and  specific  ]Dlan.  And  as  the  trustees  of 
this  University  are  shortly  to  be  in  session  again ;  and,  as 
they  cannot  escape  or  evade  the  question  what  shall  be 
done  to  relieve  the  pressure  on  the  dormitories,  I  earnestly 
solicit  their  attention  to  this  projDosition,  before  they  re- 
solve to  entangle  the  institution  still  more  inextricably 
than  it  is  at  present,  in  the  meshes  of  a  bad  system. 

It  seems  to  be  by  the  accident  that  we  possess  the 
abandoned  State  capitol,  that  a  mode  of  ultimate  relief 
from  the  trammels  of  our  present  organization  is  easily 
023ened  to  us.  But  many  others,  situated  precisely  like 
ourselves,  have  not  a  similar  advantage.  It  is  worth  while 
inquiring  how  came  we,  how  came  they,  originally  to  be 
in  such  a  situation  ?  How  came  so  many  of  us  to  occupy 
situations  chosen  evidently  in  each  case  upon  some  uni- 
form principle  of  selection  (since  the  peculiarities  are 
every  where  the  same),  and  what  is  this  principle  ?  We 
find,  first,  that  a  large  number  of  the  colleges  of  our  coun- 
try are  planted  in  retired  and  quiet  portions  of  the  inte 
rior;  and  secondly,  that  instead  of  being  23laced  in  the 


92  LETTEKSON 

midst  of  any  community,  even  tliat  of  a  small  country 
village,  they  are  situated  at  some  moderate  distance  from 
sucli  a  spot,  sufficient  to  be  measured  by  a  walk  of  per- 
haps half  an  hour.  There  has  evidently  been  a  common 
design  in  all  this,  and  it  is  clearly  traceable  to  a  fear  of 
the  dangerous  temptations  which  are  presumed  to  lie  in 
wait  for  youth,  wherever  human  beings  are  gathered 
together  in  society.  These  temptations  are  greater  in 
large  towns ;  therefore  large  towns  are,  first  of  all,  sedu- 
lously avoided.  They  are  not  absent  even  from  small 
towns  and  villages ;  therefore  small  towns  and  villages  are 
in  like  manner  tabooed.  Yet  as  neither  young  men  nor 
their  instructors  can  conveniently  live  cut  off  from  all  com- 
munication with  their,  fellow  beings,  the  neighborhood  of 
the  lesser  town  is  tolerated ;  but  it  is  held  at  such  a  conve- 
nient distance  that,  if  it  j)ossesses  any  allurements  to  lead 
young  men  astray,  such  yielding  youths  can  find  them  out 
without  any  trouble  at  all,  and  enjoy  them  with  that  sat- 
isfaction of  conscious  security  which  arises  out  of  the 
knowledge  that  their  instructors  and  guardians  are  quietly 
housed  a  mile  and  a  half  oft'.  The  fact  is,  that  all  this 
reasoning,  from  beginning  to  end,  is  founded  in  the  most 
mistaken  impressions  in  the  world.  The  temptations  of 
great  cities  do  not  corrupt  the  youth  of  great  cities,  any 
more  than  the  diftering,  but  no  less  real,  ones  of  the  coun- 
try, as  a  general  rule,  corrujDt  the  youth  of  the  country. 
The  grand  melo-drama  which  is  j)lacarded  all  over  Royal 
street  in  Mobile,  arrests  no  eager  glance  from  the  Mobile 
lad  as  he  passes  along  on  his  way  to  his  schoolboy  tasks. 


r 


COLLEGE      GOVERN M EH T.  93 


Familiarity  breeds  contemjDt,  indifference,  unconsciousness. 
And  so  it  is  with  all  other  presumed  fascinations  of  the 
same  nature.  In  like  manner,  young  men  from  abroad, 
sent  to  commercial  towns  to  become  initiated  into  the 
ways  of  trade,  though  entirely  free  to  dispose  of  their 
evenings  as  they  please,  do  not  more  frequently  contract 
bad  habits  in  such  places,  than  students  in  our  most  seclu- 
ded colleges.  Facts  further  demonstrate  that  there  is  ac- 
tually less  complaint  of  irregularity  and  dissipation  in 
those  colleges  in  cities  which  have  no  dormitories,  than  is 
often  heard  in  those  country  institutions  where  compul- 
sory residence  in  college  buildings  is  a  feature  of  the 
system.  This  is  true  of  Columbia  College  and  the  City 
University,  in  New  York;  and  also,  according  to  Dr. 
Wayland,  of  the  Universities  of  Glasgow  and  Edinburgh, 
in  Scotland. 

To  this  false  notion,  therefore,  of  what  the  moral 
safety  of  young  men  in  college  requires,  we  evidently  owe 
the  location  of  so  many  of  these  institutions  in  situations 
where  the  provision  of  dormitories  for  the  accommodation 
of  students  is  an  absolute  necessity,  and  where  a  change 
of  system  without  a  change  of  site  is  quite  impossible. 
The  evil  in  many  cases  is  done ;  and  the  money  that  has 
thus  been,  as  it  seems  to  me,  lamentably  wasted,  cannot 
now  be  restored.  But  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  a  similar 
perversion  of  means  which  might  be  so  much  more  wisely 
employed,  will  not  continue  hereafter  to  be  made — or  not 
at  least  to  so  great  an  extent.  It  is  doubtless  too  much 
to  expect  that  in  all,  or  even  in  many,  of  the  institutions 


9i  L  E  T  T  E  K  S       O  N 

SO  imfortunatel}'   situated,  tliere  will  ""oe  any  very  early 
diano-e  of  ]3lan.     The  conviction  tliat  a  change  is  desirable 
is  far  from  being  yet  nniversal ;    and  if  it  were  so,  the 
means  for  effecting  the  change  could  not  be  immediately 
forthcoming,  nor  perhaps  could  they  be  obtained  at  all. 
The  needed  work  of  reformation  must  evidently  be  a  work 
of  time ;  and  not  only  that,  but  of  a  great  deal  of  time. 
It  may  be  expected  to  be  accomplished  somewhat  in  the 
following   manner.      Those   institutions    which   shall   do 
away  Avith  the  cloister  system,  and  those  new  ones  which 
shall  be  erected  without  ever  adopting  it,  will  become, 
with  the  progress  of  information,  so  much  more  the  favor- 
ites of  the  people  than  the  rest,  that  these  latter  will, 
one  after  another,  be  compelled  to  reform  themselves,  in 
order  that  they  may  maintain  any  thing  like  an  equal 
competition  for  the  public  patronage.     By  degrees,  there- 
fore, change  will  make  its  way  into  all  those  institutions 
in  which  it  is  a  possibility ;  while  for  those  in  which  it  is 
not,  no  alternative  will  remain  but  to  dwindle  away  and 
perish.     It  may  take  a  century  to  accomplish  all  this; 
but   that   it  will  be  accomplished,  I  entertain  not  the 
slightest  doubt. 

Twelve  years  have  now  passed  since  Dr.  Wayland 
published  his  judicious  views  on  this  subject  to  the  world. 
That  his  little  volume  has  been  effectual  in  preventing 
much  financial  folly  of  which  the  country  would  other- 
wise have  been  guilty,  in  connection  with  college  build- 
ings, there  can  be  no  doubt ;  but  the  frequent  evidences 
which  appear  that  there  is  still  work  of  this  kind  to  be 


COLLEGE      G  O  y  E  K  N  M  E  N  T  .  95 

clone,  sufficiently  prove  tliat  the  perusal  of  this  valuable 
book  has  not  yet  been  quite  universal.  If  through  the 
medium  of  these  letters  I  accomplish  no  other  good  than 
to  draw  attention  to  an  authority  so  much  more  compe- 
tent to  pronounce  upon  subjects  of  this  kind  than  I  am,  I 
shall  be  satisfied  that  my  labor  has  been  well  spent. 

University  of  Alahama^  Aug,  17,  1854. 


96  LETTERS       ON 


LETTER     XII. 


POSITIVE    ADVANTAGES    OF    LARGE    TOWNS     AS     SITES     FOR     SEMINARIES     OF 

LEARNING. CONCLUSION. 

Having  expressed  tlie  opinion  that  tlie  consideration 
wliicli  aj)pears  to  have  determined  the  location  of  so 
many  of  our  colleges  in  situations  remote  from  large 
towns,  is  without  any  substantial  foundation,  I  should 
leave  the  discussion  of  the  subject  incomplete,  should  I 
fail  to  point  out  some  of  the  advantages  which  such  towns 
possess  as  sites  of  seminaries  of  learning,  and  which  appear 
to  have  been  almost  entirely  overlooked.  The  simple 
advantage  already  adverted  to  that  they  afford  convenient 
accommodations  to  students,  in  regard  to  board  and  lodg- 
ing, though  the  first  to  arise  in  the  course  of  my  argu- 
ment, is  far  from  being  the  first  in  point  of  importance. 
There  are  others  so  obvious  that  it  would  seem  impossible 
they  should  be  disregarded,  had  we  not  the  fact  before  us 
that  they  are  so,  in  probably  a  majority  of  cases.  Some 
of  these,  in  their  influence  upon  the  prosperity  and  useful- 
ness of  an  institution  for  the  education  of  young  men,  are 
so  far  above  the  imaginary  security  to  morals  which  is 
believed  to  be  found  in  the  retirement  of  the  country,  as 
to  demand  from  the  founders  of  such  institutions  the  very 
earliest  attention,  and  to  yield  to  no  consideration  what- 
ever save  the  single  one  of  healthfulness.     That  the  spot 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  97 

selected  as  tlie  site  of  a  University  should  be  free  from 
liability  to  frequent  visits  of  epidemic  or  pestilential  dis- 
eases, is  of  course  a  condition  paramount  to  every  otlier. 
But  next  to  tliis  should  obviously  come  a  regard  for  the 
convenience  of  the  people  whom  the  institution  is  designed 
to  benefit,  and  a  consideration  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
circumstances  of  location  may  facilitate  or  embarrass  the 
operations  of  the  institution  itself. 

'No  one  will  deny  that  those  parents  whose  residences 
are  so  immediately  in  the  vicinity  of  a  college,  that  their 
sons  may  be  educated  without  being  withdrawn  from  the 
genial  influences  of  the  family  circle,  enjoy  a  great  advan- 
tage over  those  who  are  compelled  to  send  them  to  a  dis- 
tance from  home ;  more  particularly  if,  in  so  doing,  they 
have  no  choice  but  to  consign  them  to  the  artificial  society 
whose  un propitious  influence  I  have  endeavored  to  point 
out,  in  speaking  of  the  inadequacy  of  college  government 
to  supply  the  place  of  those  restraints  which  it  supersedes. 
In  proportion  as  a  college  is  retired,  in  the  same  propor- 
tion is  the  number  of  those  diminished,  to  whom  this 
great  advantage  is  available.  Eetirement  is  therefore  pur- 
chased at  a  large  sacrifice,  even  if  we  look  at  the  question 
as  one  which  concerns  only  the  morals  of  the  youth  it 
affects.  For  were  college  government  capable  of  accom- 
plishing all  it  undertakes— and  we  have  seen  how  far  at 
present  this  is  from  being  the  case— it  would  ill  supply 
the  loss  of  that  watchful  and  anxious  solicitude  which  sur- 
rounds every  young  man  in  the  bosom  of  his  own  home. 
I  might,  to  this  consideration,  add  that  of  the  greatly 
increased  expense  which  attends  the  education  of  a  son  at 


98  L  E  T  T  E  K  S      O  N 

a  distance  from  home ;  a  consideration  of  so  great  import- 
ance witli  many,  as  quite  to  determine  tlie  question 
whether  he  shall  enjoy  the  benefit  of  a  college  education 
or  not ;  but  this  is  too  obvious  to  require  more  than  an 
incidental  mention. 

It  is  evident  that,  in  a  large  town,  there  will  usually 
be  a  considerable  number  of  students  residing  with  their 
parents.  It  is  also  as  generally  true  that,  owing  to  the 
denser  population  of  the  country  in  the  vicinity  of  such 
towns,  many  more  will  be  within  such  easy  distance  of 
their  homes,  that  they  will  be  more  or  less  under  the  con- 
trol of  domestic  influences.  These  are  not  only  themselves 
benefited  by  this  cause,  but  they  serve  in  some  degree  to 
infuse  a  better  leaven  into  the  whole  mass,  than  can  rea- 
sonably be  looked  for  where  almost  every  one  is  beyond 
even  the  occasional  observation  of  those  who  are  most 
deeply  interested  in  his  welfare,  and  likely  earliest  to  de- 
tect, when  occasion  arises,  any  incipient  habits  of  idleness 
or  vice.  This  consideration  strongly  recommends  popu- 
lous towns  as  sites  for  seminaries  of  learning ;  and  detracts 
much  from  the  force  of  the  argument,  were  it  not  other- 
wise illusory,  urged  in  favor  of  rural  retreats  as  being 
more  favorable  to  the  preservation  of  good  morals  among 
young  men  under  education. 

I  should  do  wrong  to  ignore,  as  I  may  seem  to  do,  the 
presumption  (continually  put  forward)  in  favor  of  the 
country,  that  its  calm  tranquillity  predisposes  to  thought, 
and  soothes  the  mind  into  a  fitting  frame  for  study.  With- 
out being  in  the  least  disposed  to  deny  that  quiet  is  neces- 
sary to  concentration  of  thought,  I  repudiate  the  assump- 


COLLEGE      G  O  V  E  R  N  :M  E  N  T  .  99 

tion  that  sucli  quiet,  to  the  full  extent  to  which  it  is 
needed,  is  not  to  be  found  in  large  cities.  If  study  were  a 
23ursuit  to  be  prosecuted  in  the  oj^en  streets,  the  argument 
might  have  a  weight,  which,  in  the  question  of  fact  before 
us,  it  lacks.  The  academic  halls  of  Yale  College,  New 
Haven,  and  of  Columbia  College,  New  York,  possess  every 
recommendation  of  noiseless  tranquillity  which  is  to  be 
found  in  those  of  the  University  of  Alabama ;  nor  have 
all  the  thunders  of  the  great  Babel  of  London  power  to 
penetrate  the  recesses  of  the  British  Museum,  or  to  disturb 
the  researches  and  the  meditations  of  the  patient  book- 
worms who  plod  among  the  treasures  of  its  vast  library. 

Nor  need  it  be  said  that  the  uproar  which  assails  the 
ears  of  the  student,  as  he  emerges  from  his  retirement  into 
the  streets  of  a  great  city,  creates  an  unfavorable,  or  even 
an  undesirable,  distraction  of  his  thoughts  from  the  sub- 
jects of  his  studies.  It  is  good  that  the  bow  should  be 
unbent;  and  the  more  complete  the  recoil,  the  better. 
The  student  studies  to  little  purpose,  who  is  studying 
always.  The  muscle  becomes  capable  of  but  a  languid 
effort  w^hich  is  ever  on  the  strain.  Let  the  hours  of  relax- 
ation be  hours  of  relaxation  in  earnest,  that  in  those  of 
study  the  mind  may  bring  to  the  task  all  the  energies  of 
an  unexhausted  vigor. 

But  large  towns  are  preferable,  also,  to  small  ones,  as 
situations  for  seminaries  of  learning,  because  they  place 
these  institutions  more  conspicuously  in  the  view  of  the 
whole  people.  At  one  time  or  another,  almost  every  citi- 
zen of  a  State  visits  its  principal  city.  While  there,  the 
father  of  a  family  will  look  with  especial  interest  upon  the 


100  LETTERS      ON 

University  in  wliicli .  lie  designs  to  educate  liis  son ;  and 
every  one,  wlietlier  lie  be  drawn  toward  it  by  sucli  a  mo- 
tive or  not,  will  naturally  rank  it  among  tliose  objects 
wliicli  earliest  deserve  the  attention  of  tlie  stranger.  In- 
telligent men  from  every  part  of  tlie  country  become  tlius 
acquainted  witli  tlie  institution  itself,  and  witli  tlie  officers 
wlio  conduct  it.  It  occupies  a  larger  place  in  tlieir 
thoughts  than  it  otherwise  would  do.  They  learn  to  view 
it  with  a  pride  proportioned  to  its  celebrity,  and  it  grows 
itself  in  repute  by  the  operation  of  the  very  causes  which 
acquaint  them  with  it.  Its  public  exhibitions  are  also 
attended  by  larger  and  more  intelligent  audiences  than 
can  usually  be  gathered  in  the  country ;  the  young  men 
who  come  forward  as  performers  are  made  conscious  that 
they  have  a  more  discriminating  audience  to  please,  and  a 
more  honorable  name  to  gain  by  their  successful  efforts ; 
ambition  is  thus  stimulated,  and  higher  excellence  is  the 
natural  result. 

But  there  are  still  other  important  advantages  to  be 
gained  by  the  location  of  colleges  in  populous  towns.  If 
such  an  institution  would  be  celebrated,  its  professors 
must  have  a  personal  reputation  as  men  of  letters  and  sci- 
ence ;  and  this  is  what  cannot  be  gained  by  any  ability  or 
any  success  in  the  routine  of  elementary  instruction.  But 
if  they  would  themselves  prosecute  study,  they  must  have 
access  to  the  collected  results  of  past  intellectual  labor,  in 
the  valuable  libraries  which  can  only  be  looked  for  at 
present  in  our  large  towns.  In  saying  this,  I  do  not  over- 
look two  facts :  first,  that  we  have  really  very  few  public 
libraries  yet  in  this  country  of  which  we  have  any  great 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  101 

reason  to  be  proud ;  and,  secondly,  that  all  colleges  have,  or 
intend  to  have,  libraries  of  their  own.     But,  in  regard  to 
the  first  point,  it  is  certain  that  our  best  liljraries  are,  and 
are  always  likely  to  be,  found  in  our  largest  cities  ;  and  as 
to  the  second,  whatever  value  the  libraries  of  particular 
colleges  may  have  now  or  hereafter,  it  is  manifestly  al)- 
surd  to  suppose  that  one  in  twenty  of  the  whole  number 
will,  in  any  length  of  time,  become  adequate  to  the  wants 
of  a  profound  scholar  or  philosopher.      No    amount    of 
talent  or  industry  can  ever  elevate  to  the  rank  of  authori 
ties  men  who  are  deprived  of  the  necessary  facilities  for 
research.     If,  therefore,  we  would  give  our  college  officers 
the  opportunity  (I  do  not  say  that  all  would  improve  it), 
but  if  we  could  give  them  the  opportunity  to    become 
honorably  eminent,  we  should  place  them  where  they  may 
have  within  their  reach  such  means  to  become  so  as  the 
country  affords. 

To  these  considerations  we  may  add,  that,  in  illustrat- 
ing the  laws  of  nature,  it  is  necessary  to  employ  much 
delicate  and  costly  a]3paratus.  Instruments  of  great  value 
are  liable  to  occasional  derangements,  the  correction  of 
which  it  is  not  wise  or  safe  to  intrust  to  rude  or  inexperi- 
enced hands.  It  is  rare  indeed  to  find,  in  an  obscure 
country  town,  artisans  competent  to  undertake  the  repair 
of  articles  which,  even  for  their  ordinary  use,  require  spe- 
cial training  and  peculiar  skill.  To  send  them  to  a  dis- 
tance involves  both  expense  and  delay ;  to  say  nothing  of 
the  hazard  of  conveyance,  often,  over  ordinary  roads,  which 
is  so  great  as  not  seldom  to  involve  a  more  serious  damage 
than  that  which  it  was  sought  to  correct.     In  the  large 

8 


102  L  E  T  T  E  R  S       O  N 

towns  are  to  be  found  the  manufacturers  of  this  species  of 
apparatus ;  or  at  least  persons  whose  occupations  are  so 
far  analogous  as  to  insure  in  them  the  possession  of  a  skill 
which  may  be  trusted  with  comparative  safety.  This  is  a 
consideration  of  great  practical  importance.  In  conse- 
quence of  trifling  accident,  I  have,  in  more  instances  than 
one,  known  instruments  to  be  set  aside  and  to  remain  un- 
used for  long  periods  of  time ;  and  in  others  I  have  known 
them  to  be  irreparably  injured  in  unskillful  hands,  or  rap- 
idly to  deteriorate  in  consequence  of  attempts  to  em- 
ploy them  when  they  were  not  in  proj)er  condition  to  be 
used. 

After  what  I  have  said,  it  may  seem  trivial  to  mention 
so  apparently  insignificant  a  disadvantage  of  a  situation 
remote  from  the  great  marts  of  trade,  as  the  occasional 
failure  of  text  books  for  ordinary  use  in  college  classes 
which,  in  spite  of  every  precaution,  appears  to  be  occa- 
sionally inevitable.  Kor  would  I  allude  to  this,  if  I  had 
not,  in  many  instances,  both  seen  and  felt  the  extreme  in- 
convenience resultinof  from  such  a  failure.  And  it  is  with 
reason  that  I  say  that  no  ordinary  precaution  seems  to  be 
entirely  adequate  to  prevent  the  occasional  occurrence  of 
so  untoward  a  state  of  things,  since  I  have  seen  the  whole 
business  of  providing  text  books  taken  out  of  the  hands 
of  booksellers,  and  entirely  assumed  by  the  college  itself, 
without  securing  any  very  sensible  improvement  in  this 
respect.  In  a  situation  such  as  are  all  those  to  be  found 
in  the  interior  of  Alabama,  the  distances  from  which  suji- 
plies  of  this  kind  are  to  be  brought,  the  dangers  of  the 
seas,  the  uncertainty  of  the  rivers,  and  the  irregularities  of 


COLLEGE      GOVERNMENT.  103 

land  conveyance,  conspire  in  no  unfreqnent  instances  to 
defeat  all  the  arrangements  of  the  wisest  human  foresight, 
and  thus  to  leave  a  college  for  months  in  a  state  of  great 
embarrassment,  from  a  cause  which,  at  first  view,  might 
seem  the  least  likely  of  all  to  be  an  occasion  of  annoy- 
ance. 

For  these  reasons  combined,  it  is  my  well-settled  belief 
that,  in  the  selection  of  a  site  for  a  college,  the  most  pop- 
ulous town  should  be  preferred  before  any  location  in  the 
country,  however  apparently  tempting ;  and  that  no  con- 
sideration should  be  allowed  to  disturb  this  preference^ 
except  that  of  healthfulness  only.  And  when  we  con- 
sider that,  in  the  course  of  human  events,  it  is  possible, 
and  in  this  country  not  very  improbable,  that  a  small  town 
may  become  a  large  one,  especially  when  stimulated  in  its 
growth  by  the  presence  of  a  great  seminary  of  learning; 
and  that  suburbs  are  likely  to  be  swallowed  up  and  lost 
in  the  expansion  of  the  towns  to  which  they  belong ;  it 
will  be  obvious  that  the  most  careful  preference  originally 
given  to  seclusion  and  retirement  can  at  best  but  secure  a 
very  temporary-  enjoyment  of  the  advantages  which  such 
situations  have  been  idly  imagined  to  possess. 

The  design  with  which  I  have  ventured  to  undertake 
tbis  series  of  letters  is  now  answered.  I  had  not  in  view, 
in  writing  them,  so  much  to  vindicate  any  existing  state 
of  things  in  the  University  of  Alabama,  or  to  urge  with 
any  strong  anticipation  of  success,  any  change  of  such  of 
its  features  as  I  suppose  to  be  capable  of  improvement,  as 
to  correct  certain  of  what  seem  to  me  to  be  errors  of  pub- 
lic impression  or  opinion  in  regard  to  colleges,  some  of 


104  '  LETTEES      ON 

them  of  long  standing  and  of  evidently  extensive  preva- 
lence. In  this,  if  I  have  not  succeeded,  I  trust  I  have 
done  enough  to  induce  reflection,  and  perhaps  to  elicit 
from  abler  minds  a  more  thorousrh  examination  of  the 
whole  subject. 

F.  A.  P.  BAENARD. 

University  of  Alahcmia^  ^'^^il-  18,  1854. 


^^/=^nrC^^.M^7^.r^^'-^  U  ^^  ^^-^  n  -s^  s--^  ^  ^ '  «^ 


«J<S'  "J*^  1^  ^S'  \  f  "^    XVS' 


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